Oklahoma farmer speaks past his time at a council meeting over a data center. Then, the officers appear to arrest him for criminal trespass

An Oklahoma farmer is fighting a criminal trespass charge after he was arrested for speaking too long at a city council meeting. According to the caption of a video posted on Reddit, the incident happened on February 17 during a public discussion about Project Mustang, a 300-acre data center development.

The situation began when Darren Blanchard, a local farmer, spoke to the Claremore City Council during a scheduled public comment session. The meeting rules allowed a three-minute limit, but Blanchard kept speaking past that time.

According to body camera footage, he tried to hand in some supporting documents before stepping away from the podium. An officer then told his colleagues to stop him. During the confrontation, Blanchard reminded them, “This is a public meeting,” and asked, “on what grounds?” as they moved to detain him.

The arrest, the charge, and the legal fight that followed

Blanchard was said to have been charged with criminal trespass, which comes with a $200 fine. Instead of paying the fine, he decided to challenge the charge in court. His legal team argues that the arrest was retaliation for protected speech. They have filed a motion to dismiss the case.

They are also asking that the city attorney step aside because he witnessed the whole event,. Other recent cases have raised similar questions about wrongful arrests tied to flawed evidence, where police actions came under scrutiny after the fact.

The footage of the arrest has since gone viral on Reddit, and the online reaction has been intense. Many people have shared their frustration with how the authorities handled the situation. One Reddit user wrote, “All of these town council members are getting kick backs for this. Corruption.” Another commenter said, “The government needs to start listening to their f-ing people before something horrible happens.” 

A third commenter pointed to a broader pattern, saying, “People in power really bend over backwards to please AI data centers. Give it time, the charges will more obviously and blatantly go to the rest of us and those in power will say there is something wrong with us for not liking it.” 

Another person pushed back on critics of data centers, arguing, “I don’t understand people who are against data center. Just stop using AI and social media, and trust me by tomorrow no data center will be built. You can’t stop making your stupid AI slop and still blaming them for providing the services.”

Despite the local pushback and the ongoing legal battle, the path forward for Project Mustang is already set. The $1-billion development has been approved and is scheduled to go live in 2028. The legal arguments remain unresolved.