Longtime gay and prison activist Ray Hill says Houston police violated his free speech rights last week during an arrest at a strip club, explaining he went there to get arrested to show how police bully citizens who question them.

Hill, 71, was arrested at 11 p.m. Thursday at the Treasures club on Westheimer after vice officers said he refused several orders to leave the club during a raid.

"They were in there pushing customers and women around, and I just don't sit passively by when I see cops doing bully things," Hill said.

The activist said on Monday that police did not ask him to leave the club. He played part of a surveillance video from the club that appears to show him being arrested a few seconds after he first spoke to a police officer. Misdemeanor charges of interference with public duties allege Hill pushed a police officer and pulled his hand away from the officer.

Houston police on Monday said they had not received a copy of the surveillance tape or a formal complaint.

"If he files a complaint we will investigate it thoroughly, in the same manner we would any Internal Affairs Division complaint," HPD spokesman John Cannon said.

Hill said last week's charges are disturbingly similar to his successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge three decades ago of a Houston ordinance that prohibited residents from verbally interrupting police. Hill was arrested Valentine's Day in 1982 when he questioned police about their attempt to arrest a young black man in his front of his Montrose residence.

A Houston federal court dismissed the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 ruled Houston's ordinance was overly broad and violated the First Amendment right to free speech. The existing ordinance had allowed citizens to be arrested for speaking to an officer while they were carrying out their duties.

On Thursday's surveillance tape, Hill could be seen entering the club and standing by the door as he speaks with club employees. He turned to address a Houston police officer, and a few seconds later the officer could be seen grabbing Hill's coat and pushing him from the door toward the bar. Two other officers handcuffed Hill and escorted him out the door.

"I never make a fist. I never push or shove. I asked him for his name. He said 'I'm a police officer.' And I said, 'I know that. What is your (expletive) name?''' Hill said, referring to an incident that appears to take 45 seconds. "Do you see me interfering with anything? They did not have time to ask me to leave."

Hill said he went to Treasures after learning police were conducting a raid there. Hill, who has worked as a lobbyist for the adult bookstore industry in Houston, said he does not have a financial arrangement with Treasures.

"I am there to let it be known that I have never tolerated police officers pushing around frightened and vulnerable people," Hill said, referring to employees of the club.

Hill said he spoke with Police Chief Charles McClelland recently about the conduct of his vice officers, adding he told police command it would be easy for a citizen to be arrested for merely asking a question.

Houston police would not confirm any previous conversations with Hill.

Hill said he'll provide McClelland, Mayor Annise Parker, as well as District Attorney Pat Lykos, with a copy of the surveillance video.

james.pinkerton@chron.com