IN THE MIX:

It’s unfortunate that the city’s case against Costa Mesa resident Coyotl Tezcatlipoca ended with a dismissal and not with a decision based on its merits.

I would have liked that bit of legal affirmation that this case was shameful.

I ran into Tezcatlipoca, whose legal name is Benito Acosta, on the Orange Coast College campus the other day and I had to say, “Congratulations, sort of.”

Usually there are two sides to every story. Rarely is there an instance like this in which it’s obvious to nearly everyone that the actions taken were not necessary.

Tezcatlipoca should not have been chastised for what he was doing during the City Council meeting, he shouldn’t have been removed, he shouldn’t have been arrested and he shouldn’t have been tried.

The whole thing made me wonder if there was something I was missing. But I have a feeling the Orange County District Attorney’s office had access to all the information and their reaction didn’t indicate there was much more to the story.

“We decided not to file charges in the interest of justice,” a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office said.

Justice? 1st Amendment? Constitutional Rights? Those are liberal words and we won’t have it.

Let’s just focus on the 1st Amendment. It’s that thing the American Civil Liberties Union is always squawking about.

ACLU — there’s another loaded word. They’re accused of rabble rousing and defending NAMBLA and all sorts of heinous actions. What they actually do is protect civil rights starting with the most basic one — the 1st Amendment. There’s a reason it’s the first amendment. It’s kind of an important one.

Tezcatlipoca gets that right, too.

This 26-year-old American man is angry about how his representatives in Costa Mesa are treating Mexicans. He went with a group of immigration rights supporters to a meeting and spoke calmly — though nervously. So far, so good.

Having used up less than two and a half of his three minutes of speaking time, Tezcatlipoca then asked for those who agreed with him to stand. He was immediately told by the mayor, “We’re not going to do that.”

This is where the whole thing unravels. At a public meeting you can limit how long someone speaks and you can tell them we don’t want anyone to stand. But you have to treat all your speakers the same. That didn’t happen.

When former Minuteman leader Jim Gilchrist spoke earlier in the meeting, he said he was going to ask his supporters to stand.

In his testimony during the trial the mayor said he was about to tell the Gilchrist supporters to sit but they sat down so fast he didn’t have time. But during the meeting in question the mayor does take the time to thank him for having them stand in support as opposed to having each of them talk and asked that maybe the other side could do the same.

He took all that time to say that but didn’t say, no, we won’t have anyone standing here tonight.

He took that time when Tezcatlipoca wanted people to stand.

That’s when he was told his time was up. He didn’t leave the podium but he didn’t get out of control. The police approached him and asked him to leave.

He did seem annoyed at this time as he turned to grab his notes off the podium before turning back to the police. He told them a few times, “Don’t touch me.”

That’s when a man walked up to the police, and said something. That’s when they grabbed Tezcatlipoca and forcefully removed him from the room.

Can you imagine if there wasn’t a video we could all watch?

The mayor, police and a crowd of witnesses say Tezcatlipoca was a loud mouth and he deserved to be arrested. How could you possibly dispute that?

I’ve read comments from people who said they were there and he was swearing and calling the City Council names. Nope. They are adamant that’s what happened but it just isn’t true. They probably think all that because a month earlier he did swear at a meeting. Somehow the two events got mixed into one and still neither are grounds for arrest.

Forget what people are saying happened. As Tezcatlipoca said, “Watch the video.”

Along with the City Council video, watch the one on YouTube.com posted by TheWatchdog, search term: “Benito Acosta.”

Once Tezcatlipoca was escorted from the room that should have been it but then he was taken to jail. Then they pursue it further with charges of disrupting a public meeting.

Why would they take it that far?

It wasn’t just about race. I’m pretty sure if a conservatively dressed Latino with short hair spoke about sports field lighting and went over his time there would not have been an issue.

I could go so far as to say it was politically motivated. This was a man saying exactly what the council majority did not want to hear and who has been trying to unite the 30% of Latinos in Costa Mesa and teach them their rights. That can be a scary idea for some.

Tezcatlipoca theory doesn’t go that far. I asked him why he thinks the city went forward with the charges and the trial. He said he thinks it’s as simple as a response to his filing a civil suit against the city.

His ACLU attorney Belinda Escobosa Helzer agrees and an e-mail from Police Chief John Hensley to a local attorney supports the theory.

“If we drop (the charges against Tezcatlipoca) he will sue us for false arrest and I am not going to let that happen,” Hensley wrote.

Whatever the city’s motivation, the message it is sending is that if you go to a Costa Mesa City Council meeting you better watch your step because, with the wrong move, you could end up in jail.

That outcome is off the table now for Tezcatlipoca. With the case dismissed, he said he’s looking forward to getting back to school and life, and his work with the Tonantzin Collective.

That is until he’s back in court on the other side of the legal system as part of a suit brought by the ACLU.

Understand at least this: the ACLU gets a ton of requests for representation. They were told about this one and they took it.

It’s a good thing, because I asked Tezcatlipoca what would stop him from going forward with his civil suit and his answer was pretty absolute.

“Not to be fatalistic, but if they killed me,” he said.

ALICIA LOPEZ teaches journalism at Orange Coast College and lives in Costa Mesa. She can be reached at lopezinthemix@gmail.com.