User:Louis/Claremore data center hearing arrest

Darren Blanchard, an Oklahoma farmer, was arrested on a criminal trespass charge at a February 17, 2026 Claremore, Oklahoma City Council meeting after he spoke seconds past the three-minute public-comment limit at a public hearing on the proposed Project Mustang data center. Bodycam footage of the arrest, which captured an official ordering Arrest him as Blanchard tried to hand records to the city clerk, became public four months later after an open-records request for the video was first quoted at $1,750 and then obtained for $120. Blanchard pleaded not guilty; the charge carries a penalty of up to $200.

At a glance

Key facts

Item	Detail
Who	Darren Blanchard, an Oklahoma farmer
What	Arrested on a criminal trespass charge, a $200 offense, for speaking seconds past the three-minute public-comment limit
When and where	February 17, 2026, at a Claremore, Oklahoma City Council meeting held at Rogers State University
Meeting subject	The proposed Project Mustang data center, developed by Beale Infrastructure
The order	An official said Arrest him as Blanchard moved to hand his records to the city clerk
Bodycam records fee	First quoted at $1,750, later obtained for $120
Status	Pleaded not guilty; his attorneys call the arrest retaliatory

Background

Project Mustang is a proposed multi-building data center campus that Beale Infrastructure planned to develop in the Claremore Industrial Park in Rogers County, Oklahoma, with the first phase targeting 2028. Reporting placed the site at roughly 300 acres. The city's own Project Mustang page describes land that has been zoned for industrial use for more than a decade and says the developer and end user is a domestically owned, publicly traded company.

The February 17, 2026 meeting drew more than 100 people to Rogers State University in Claremore, where Beale Infrastructure representatives and city councilors answered questions. City leaders said the session was meant to clear up confusion and hear residents, & no vote was scheduled. Public comment was limited to three minutes per speaker.

Residents raised concerns about water use, electricity rates, noise, & the city signing non-disclosure agreements on the developer's behalf. Bret Miller, who relies on well water, questioned how much water the facility would draw & where it would come from. 404 Media reported that residents largely felt the project had been approved without their input & that city officials had signed NDAs & haven't been forthcoming with details about its construction.

The arrest

Excerpt of the City of Claremore's official recording of the February 17, 2026 council meeting, running from Darren Blanchard's public comment through his arrest and removal.

Darren Blanchard speaks against the Project Mustang data center from the public microphone at the February 17, 2026 Claremore City Council meeting.

Blanchard went past the three-minute limit during his public comment, & accounts of how far vary. The Cool Down described it as a few seconds over, & Gadget Review put it at five seconds. News On 6 reported he continued for about 30 seconds. Tom's Hardware reported he went over by less than a minute, with City Manager John Feary telling him he had exceeded his time around 15 seconds after the time expired. The City of Claremore's council recording of the meeting shows Blanchard being cut off shortly after he passed the three-minute mark.

Blanchard said he was reclaiming his time because the audience had applauded during his remarks, which he had paused for. As officers approached, he set the microphone down & walked toward the council table to hand over documents. In the bodycam footage transcribed by Wide Open Country & FOX23, Blanchard asked Can I present my records? & an officer told him you've been asked to leave. Blanchard replied I'm not going to leave & This is a public meeting, & an officer told him he could give the documents to city clerk Sarah Sharp. When Blanchard asked On what grounds? twice, an unidentified official answered Right now, then Arrest him. Officers handcuffed Blanchard & booked him into the Rogers County Jail. The arrest was captured on police body camera, later released to the public.

Claremore police handcuff Darren Blanchard, still holding his legal pad, at the February 17, 2026 council meeting.

The arresting officer's account differs on who directed the arrest. According to the officer's probable cause affidavit, as quoted by Tom's Hardware, Feary told Blanchard to stop & then notified police to remove him; after Blanchard continued to the front of the room to give councilors paperwork, Sergeant Singer then directed me to place Blanchard under arrest for trespassing.

Criminal charge and court proceedings

Blanchard was charged with criminal trespass, a municipal offense that carries a fine of up to $200 under Claremore city ordinances. He returned to Claremore on February 26, 2026 for his arraignment in municipal court & pleaded not guilty; it was his first ever run-in with the law. So many people came to watch that the chambers reached capacity before court began. Blanchard told reporters:

I've never been through anything like this, never had a speeding ticket, so it's all new to me.

Blanchard had used his public comment to raise two grievances that he tied to open-records requests. He referenced an email from Meggie Froman-Knight, executive director of Claremore Economic Development, telling Beale Infrastructure representatives to expect a records request from him. He also accused the city of denying that it held contracts with companies sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury; the Claremore Daily Progress reported that the Treasury had penalized IPI Partners, acquired in 2025 by Beale's parent firm.

His attorneys, Colleen McCarty & Katie Griffin, said the arrest was retaliatory. McCarty moved to dismiss the case & to disqualify prosecutor Adam Heavin, arguing that an attorney cannot be an eyewitness to the crime he is prosecuting. Heavin, an associate at Rosenstein, Fist & Ringold, serves as the city attorney & attended the February 17 forum. A hearing on the motions was set for May 7. Kaleigh Hossack, a spokesperson for the city, said Claremore could not discuss ongoing court proceedings.

Bodycam footage and the records-fee dispute

The bodycam footage reached the public through an Oklahoma Open Records Act request. Amber Robinson Rodriguez, who was in the crowd on February 17, requested the video & said the city quoted her $1,750. She told FOX23 $1,750, I believe, was the final total & said she would never pay $1,750 for records that are public records. The footage was later obtained by another requester for $120. When Rodriguez asked the city why the price differed, she said she was told it was likely due to the differences in the requests & that no one was available to discuss it further.

FOX23 reporter Burt Mummolo reported the fee discrepancy on June 19, 2026. Six days later, on June 25, 2026, 404 Media's Matthew Gault published the full bodycam video along with an interview with Blanchard.

First Amendment and retaliation claims

Blanchard's attorneys have framed the arrest as retaliation for protected speech. Following the arraignment, McCarty said:

We feel that he was arrested unconstitutionally against his First Amendment right to petition his government and to free speech. That's also under the Oklahoma Constitution. We feel it's a retaliatory arrest because of Mr. Blanchard's activities of records requests to the city.

Supporters echoed the free-speech framing. Kelly Boegemann, who attended the arraignment, said the arrest absolutely felt like infringement on First Amendment rights & that I've watched the video, I never have seen them ask him to leave one time. Asked whether the experience discouraged him from speaking at future meetings, Blanchard said Not at all.

City and developer response

The City of Claremore's Project Mustang page states that the project sits on land already zoned for industrial use & would not increase existing local tax rates or utility rates, describes an air-cooled facility with limited water use, & says the developer would pay for all required initial infrastructure upgrades. At a council meeting in May 2026, the city said the plan could include up to three data centers built in phases, each bringing a nearly billion-dollar investment, with 50 permanent jobs per data center & $250,000 a year for community betterment; a full ad valorem tax exemption, a break on property taxes, would run for 25 years per phase. Wide Open Country reported the developer's claim that the project would contribute more than $250 million to Rogers County schools, municipal services, & community programs over time, & that the facility would use 20,000 gallons of water daily.

The day after the meeting, the Claremore Police Department said its officers only become involved when a city official orders someone removed. Its statement said Blanchard was ordered removed by the City Manager, but refused to do so & that officers were left with no choice but to arrest him. The department added:

The man's position on the issues, what he said, or his unwillingness to follow the rules of the meeting played no part in the officer's decision to arrest him. He was arrested for trespassing in compliance with the law and with the hope of restoring order to an important meeting.

Froman-Knight defended the city's use of non-disclosure agreements. In a statement reproduced by Tom's Hardware, she said NDAs are lawful and routinely used for industrial projects in Oklahoma & that they do not override the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act or the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

Similar incidents at data-center hearings

Similar confrontations were reported at data-center land-use hearings in other states in 2025 & 2026. On May 7, 2026, at a Hobart, Indiana Plan Commission meeting on a proposed Amazon-NIPSCO data center, Pablo Payan of Merrillville was removed & arrested after he declined to give his name & address, which the city said were required for public comment. Video showed an officer pushing Payan over a railing & handcuffing him as he asked whether he was being detained; the city charged him with criminal trespass & disorderly conduct. A second attendee, Angelita Soriano, was removed from a later meeting for exceeding her speaking time but was not criminally charged.

In Birmingham, Alabama, Terri Michal, who had repeatedly addressed the City Council over data center concerns, was escorted out of a June 2026 meeting during a dispute over the city's public-comment rules. Birmingham City Code Section 2-2-11 bars residents from addressing the council at two consecutive meetings without permission. Michal returned in July 2026 after sitting out the required meeting & challenged the council over how her removal had been handled.