A Minnesota woman has filed a lawsuit against former CNN anchor Don Lemon following an incident in which protesters entered a St. Paul church during a worship service last month.
Ann Doucette is the plaintiff in the civil action, which also names additional individuals involved in the Jan. 18 incident at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
TMZ, which first reported on the lawsuit, said Doucette is seeking damages for what she described as “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” stemming from the disruption. The lawsuit also alleges that Lemon “appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption,” according to the outlet’s reporting.
The church incident took place amid a broader wave of protests in the Minneapolis area directed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Those protests were set off in part by the death of 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7, eleven days before the church incident.
Good, described as an anti-ICE activist, was fatally shot after she allegedly attempted to interfere with an ICE operation and then tried to run over an ICE officer with her vehicle.
Lemon and fellow protesters stated that their reason for entering the church was to confront a pastor they believed had cooperated with ICE, according to reports.
Federal authorities subsequently arrested Lemon and charged him in connection with the church incident.
The charges brought against Lemon include conspiracy to deprive rights and interfering by force with someone’s First Amendment rights. Lemon also faces charges under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE Act.
An additional charge under the Ku Klux Klan Act was also filed against Lemon as part of the federal case. The arrests were carried out by the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.
Following news of Doucette’s lawsuit, users on the social media platform X reacted and called on other church attendees to pursue their own legal action.
“This family should follow suit,” one user wrote on X, alongside a photo showing a father comforting a crying child inside the church during the disruption.
“You love to see it. I hope more people do the same, especially parents whose children were screamed at,” a second user posted.
A third user on X wrote, “Every member in that church should sue every single person who came into [the] church during their service. I hope they bankrupt Demon Lemon.”
