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Ron didn't plan on being handcuffed that afternoon. He didn't plan on being denied his own heart medication while in custody. And he definitely didn't plan on ending up in the emergency room, with the people who put him there standing guard at the door.
But that's exactly what happened outside the Tulsa Public Library on a day that started as a routine First Amendment audit and spiraled into something nobody in the livestream chat saw coming.
The Arrest That Shouldn't Have Happened
Here's what makes this story hard to shake: the last time these auditors filmed at this exact same library, Tulsa Police told them they weren't trespassing. No issues. No problems. They were exercising their rights in a public building, and TPD acknowledged it.
So they went back and did the exact same thing.
This time, TPD showed up and arrested Ron.
The trespass notice they tried to hand his son? It had the wrong name on it. They threatened arrest anyway.
If your brain is already asking "wait, how can they do that?" then hold that thought. Because the situation was about to get medically dangerous.
Chest Pain, a Prescription, and a Jail That Wouldn't Budge
Ron has a heart condition. He carries nitroglycerin, a prescribed medication for chest pain. His entire bag of medications was sitting in the truck just outside the jail. His crew offered to bring it in.
The jail refused.
They wouldn't let Ron take his own prescribed medicine. Instead, he was transported to OSU Medical Center's emergency room: the hospital run by Oklahoma State University, a public institution funded by taxpayer dollars.
And that's where the story takes its strangest turn.
Locked Out of the Hospital. Locked Out of Answers.
When Ron's crew arrived at OSU Medical to check on him, hospital security didn't just ask them to leave. They issued trespass warnings on a public sidewalk and threatened arrest if they stepped any closer.
Think about that for a moment: a man is taken to a public hospital in police custody after being denied his heart medication in jail, and the people trying to check on him are told they'll be arrested for standing on a sidewalk.
No phone. No updates. No way to know if he was okay.
His own phone was with his crew outside. They couldn't call him. The hospital wouldn't give them information. And the security guards who'd just threatened them? They were the same ones who, according to the crew, had previously allowed the parents of a convicted individual to work at the facility.
The Waiting Game Nobody Could Win
What followed was an agonizing stretch of uncertainty. Two phones draining battery. Multiple hospital entrances to watch. A bail bondsman on standby with no confirmed booking. And a fundamental question hanging over everything:
If he hasn't been officially booked, can a judge even order his release?
The crew scrambled. They called contacts. They begged viewers in the livestream chat: if you're in Tulsa, come to OSU Medical Center downtown, walk in, tell them you're family, and just check on him.
One member of the crew quietly considered shaving his beard and going back in disguise just to get eyes on Ron.
That's not a joke. That's how desperate things got.
What You Don't See in the Summary
There are moments in the full footage that a written article can't capture. The raw audio of a man realizing the system he's trying to hold accountable is now holding someone he cares about, and he can't reach them. The calculation in real-time of whether to risk his own arrest just to get information. The eerie moment an ambulance pulls up directly in front of him and he can't tell if it's coincidence or intimidation.
The livestream cut out once at the worst possible moment, right at the elevator, just as the situation escalated. Viewers dropped off without knowing what happened. The crew went live again on a second phone.
The full video has every moment: the arrest, the hospital lockout, the phone calls, the scramble, and what finally happened when the bail bondsman got word that Ron might be heading back to the jail.
Whether he walked out that night or spent the night behind bars is something you'll only know if you watch.
The full uncut livestream footage is linked above. If you believe public sidewalks should remain public and that prescribed medication shouldn't be withheld from people in custody, share this story.
