He flipped off a trooper and got charged. Now Vermont is on the hook for $175,000
He flipped off a trooper and got charged. Now Vermont is on the hook for $175,000
Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018.
Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by the ACLU of Vermont on behalf of Gregory Bombard, of St. Albans. It says Bombard’s First Amendment rights were violated after an unnecessary traffic stop and retaliatory arrest in 2018.
Trooper Jay Riggen stopped Bombard’s vehicle in St. Albans on Feb. 9, 2018, because he believed Bombard had shown him the middle finger, according to the lawsuit. Bombard denied that but says he did curse and display the middle finger once the initial stop was concluded.
Vermont State Police did not have a comment
LOL, the pigs fuck up, the state shuts up and the taxpayers pay up.
1312
1312?
Obligatory: end qualified immunity. Let them get "malpractice insurance".
This is settled law. It's been this way for a long time. Multiple people have had huge monetary settlements in multiple states for being arrested for flipping off a cop.
My father-in-law smiled and waved at a CHP cop when driving through California and got pulled over and told that was illegal, but was let off with a warning. Which I always thought was bullshit. Sounds like it is.
But the guy liked cops. He was literally just saying hi to a cop because he liked cops.
"Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"Idk because you're butthurt?"
"Small dick?"
Yeah but cops don't care about the law.
Ironic how if something is your job to care about, that it often leads to the opposite reality. Sure, cops are especially shitty but I have a lot of lax coworkers. Feels very common
Flipped off a cop when I was a teenager and that fucker tried following us home.
Tried? Like you somehow escaped a cop following you?
He didn't turn on lights and sirens and had to wait on a few cars before he could turn around so it wasn't that hard but we saw him driving slowly around the neighborhood looking for my friend's truck. Fortunately it was in the garage with the door shut before he was on the right block.
I did way back when I was 18/19... I was riding my bike home from work, and a cop directing traffic yelled at me to get out of the street. Without even thinking, I yelled back "go fuck yourself". He called to his partner across the intersection, "Mike, get him!". Mike was on a motorcycle. I was sure I was fucked, but I knew the neighborhood, so after salmoning up a one way street full of double parked cars, and taking a couple turns, one being into a narrow alley that's almost invisible unless you already know it's there, I got behind him - figured that was the best place to be... He never looked back, just slowed down, looking in doorways, between/under parked cars, until I got within a couple blocks of my house, then I hauled ass and locked myself (and bike) in the basement for the next half hour.
I give em the bird every time I see em, because I know this is settled law.
If you do it well enough, you'll get paid for it too!
The American Gestapo exist to enforce their feelings and advance the interests of wealthy property owners.
Audit the audit did a cool video on this
Yeah, I watched it the other day. That cop was nuts. "I thought maybe you were signaling me because you needed help." Bullshit. He just wanted him to admit he'd flipped him off because he thought he could charge him for that.
Good video covering the incident in detail
Who was harmed here to the tune of $175k? The ACLU should have settled for something much less.
Can you put a dollar figure on the violation of your constitutional rights? The settlement should have been much higher. Sometimes it's the only way to get power tripping cops to stop breaking the law.
If you read the article, you'll learn that he was wrongfully arrested and the legal fees involved in clearing up the whole matter were pretty high.
In law it is the defense who is supposed to argue the amount is too much, and the plaintiff should ask for as much as possible because at that point it is punitive. Second, while you may not feel threatened by any single interaction with police, this officer was angry and had to have exhibited aggressive behavior. These ingredients have resulted in lots of interactions going south.
Thirdly, let's put you in this man's position, we will make one assumption - that you know flipping a cop off is settled law and protected free speech. You're driving home and you get pulled over. For what? You were just driving and not speeding, what gives? "Licence and registration. Do you know why I pulled you over? Because you flipped me off". This is not a first level offence. This isn't being on your phone. This isn't driving without a seatbelt or speeding. This isn't driving erratically. This cop just told you he's going to ticket you because you flipped the bird, but you didn't. You try to explain you didn't and he's going to get mad because you called him a liar. Now you have a citation in hand and you try and NOT swear and actually flip him off. He has deprived your freedom of speech and given you a ticket for it and you know it. If you're gonna get a ticket you may as well do the crime right? So the officer, rather than writing another citation you know will get thrown, has your car towed. He settles you with a $300 tow AND a citation OVER A GESTURE that he is legally and constitutionally WRONG about, and you know he is. He then arrests you for it, and you spend an hour at the precinct settling this. Then when you're free to go, you have to bum a ride to go get your fucking car. A month or so later, you have take time off work to go to court. You miss making probably another $300 because a day off. It gets dismissed because it's a first amendment issue - you knew this would be the result all along. A minor feeling of vindication because you are now out $500 for missing work and other legal fees, maybe an Uber to go pick up your car, and have been harassed by a state patrolman, spent an hour in jail instead of whatever you were driving to go do. 3 years later the ACLU says "hey so you were right, and we want to sue over it. Would you NOT say "yeah fuck that dude" and sign on for it?
Minor footnote, he won 100,000, and 75,000 went to the ACLU
You're making my point for me. If you're super generous about paying this man for all his trouble, loss of freedom, court costs, etc. (and we should be) ...and then you double that for good measure... and then you double THAT for punitive purposes (and yes we should)... You still are far short of $175k.
I'm only bringing it up because it's our money as taxpayers. The ACLU should not be another piggy at the public trough.
Well obviously the snowflake cop who didn't understand laws.
I would argue violation of our constitutional rights is worth more, and if you have a problem that it's tax payers paying it and not cops, end qualified immunity, make cops carry liability insurance so when cops do fucked shit like attacking fundamental rights our country was founded on its not tax payers paying. The best way for the aclu to get that from government is by getting as much money from the tax payers as possible so when their state our county cant fix roads or keep schools open they can point to all the money spent settling lawsuits from shit cops and then maybe tax payers might start wanting cops to be liable for their shit behavior
A couple of days ago I watched a tiktok vid about a lady being arrested for flipping the bird to a cop and then proceeding to turn without signaling... yep that was the charge.
Glad the cop I flipped off when I was three didn't charge me. Despite what my brothers taught me, that is not how you wave hello to police.
I firmly disagree, your brothers taught you the correct greeting.