Aspiring comedian charged with impersonating an officer claims First Amendment rights violated
By Andres Valle
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SANTA FE, New Mexico (KOAT) — A viral TikTok landed an aspiring comedian from Santa Fe in court Monday.
Aldin Hamdy is being charged with impersonating a New Mexico State Police officer after appearing in videos wearing the uniform.
Now he’s suing the state for claiming they violated his First Amendment rights.
“The state police officer says that his video didn’t comply with their policies and values. That is the textbook definition of constitutional viewpoint discrimination and that’s unconstitutional. You cannot punish people because you don’t like their joke,” said Israel Chavez the attorney representing Hamdy.
According to police records, Hamdy was arrested last month for the videos.
He and his attorney believe his comedic sketches should be exempt from prosecution because they violate his First Amendment rights.
“It came as a shock. It was definitely not expected. And that’s why we’re taking action with this lawsuit because it just wasn’t fair,” said Hamdy.
According to police, Hamdy acquired the uniform from La Unica Dry Cleaners. The manager of the establishment told KOAT Hamdy, a former friend, stopped by one day, but had no idea what he was doing.
The manager asked us not to name him in the interview.
“I only learned after he had called and said it blew up or something. But the police were gonna visit and stuff. I haven’t even watched it myself on the news. I don’t want to. I’m not on TikTok. I don’t want to I don’t want anything to do with it anymore,” said the manager.
Now Hamdy and his attorney are hoping the process moves quickly.
“We want to ensure that creators in New Mexico cannot be punished for creating content that governments don’t like,” said Chavez.
Hamdy is currently facing a petty misdemeanor charge of unauthorized wearing of a uniform or badge.
The manager of the dry cleaners has not been implicated in any crime so far.
KOAT asked for comment from New Mexico State Police and have not heard back.
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