Man Criticises Flock Cameras on Facebook Then Says Police Chief Threatened To Send US Marshals To Arrest Him

A single profane comment about a surveillance camera has spiralled into a First Amendment controversy engulfing a small-town South Carolina police department.

Christian McClellan, a resident of Ridge Spring, says he criticised the town's Flock Safety licence-plate cameras on the police department's own Facebook page, only to receive a direct message roughly a week later warning that a warrant was being sought and that U.S. Marshals would be sent to arrest him.

Ridge Spring Mayor James H. 'Jimmy' Harling later identified Police Chief Terry Logan as the person operating the account, while Logan declined to comment when approached by WRDW/WAGT.

How the Facebook Exchange Unfolded

The dispute followed a Facebook post by the Ridge Spring Police Department about several Flock cameras being cut down around town.

McClellan left a comment voicing his frustration with the cameras, saying something along the lines of 'F*** you and your Flock cameras,' he told WRDW/WAGT, the Augusta, Georgia-based news outlet that first reported the story.

McClellan said he expected the remark to be ignored or deleted. Instead, about a week later, an account labelled 'Ridge Spring Police Department' sent him a direct message, according to his account of the exchange, and he initially assumed the account was fake before concluding after checking that it was genuine.

In screenshots McClellan provided to WRDW, the account told him it was unlawful to use profanity in electronic communications, stated 'I will be obtaining a warrant' for 'unlawful communications', and added: 'I will send the U.S. Marshals to pick you up.'

The screenshots were provided by McClellan and have not been independently authenticated, while WRDW reported that Mayor Harling identified Logan as the person operating the account.

McClellan says he wrote back inviting the chief to follow through. 'I messaged him back and basically said, go ahead, send him,' he told WRDW, adding that he repeated his original comment to make clear he was not intimidated.

Mayor Names the Chief, Who Declines To Comment

According to Ridge Spring Mayor James H. 'Jimmy' Harling, it was Police Chief Terry Logan who was operating the department's Facebook account when the messages were sent.

McClellan called the episode difficult to comprehend, saying: 'Him saying that is crazy. But then to say that you're going to have the U.S. Marshals come and pick me up, that's even crazier.'

When WRDW's investigative unit, 12 On Your Side, sought comment, it could not reach the department by phone and travelled to Ridge Spring in person. A staff member at town hall connected the outlet with Logan by telephone, but the chief declined to discuss the matter.

McClellan says the department's Facebook page, along with its Google reviews, disappeared entirely in the aftermath of the exchange. 'Gone. They removed it completely,' he said, adding that his attempts to reach the department by phone and email went unanswered before the Facebook page was later reactivated.

Legal Experts Question the Threat's Basis

The message appeared to invoke South Carolina's unlawful-communications statute, S.C. Code § 16-17-430, which covers specified profane, vulgar, indecent, threatening and repeated electronic communications in circumstances set out by the law.

The statute makes violations a misdemeanour punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to 30 days. Allen Chaney, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, said the law has been narrowly construed by the state's Supreme Court.

In State v Brown, a 1980 case involving an obscene telephone call, the court construed the relevant provision to cover calls made with the intent and sole purpose of conveying an unsolicited obscene, imminently threatening and/or harassing message to an unwilling recipient.

'Frankly, it's embarrassing that a career law enforcement officer would think you can arrest somebody for using bad language,' Chaney told WRDW. 'I don't know of many law enforcement officers that joke about sending the U.S. Marshals with an arrest warrant.'

Chaney said the episode raises wider questions about oversight of Flock Safety's automated licence-plate-reader network, which has faced mounting scrutiny nationally over data access and alleged misuse by officers.

'If we can't trust local law enforcement to know basic First Amendment rights, how can we trust them with the keys to an all-seeing, all-knowing surveillance system?' he said. McClellan agreed, telling WRDW: 'He's one of the ones that make the perfect example of why they're a bad idea.'

The confrontation over a profane comment has left a small South Carolina town facing wider questions about how its officers police their own social media page and its residents' constitutional rights.

On 27 September 2026, Cedar News reported that Ridge Spring's website listed the police chief position as 'vacant', but said the listing did not establish whether Logan had been dismissed, resigned or remained employed in another capacity.