The Daily Populous Thursday June 27th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by panda-rampage

ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) — 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.

Bombard was stopped again and arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, and his car was towed. He was jailed for over an hour and cited to criminal court, according to the ACLU. The charge was eventually dismissed.

Under the settlement signed by the parties this month, the state has agreed to pay Bombard $100,000 and $75,000 to the ACLU of Vermont and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression for legal fees.

“While our client is pleased with this outcome, this incident should never have happened in the first place,” said Hillary Rich, staff attorney for the ACLU of Vermont, in a statement. “Police need to respect everyone’s First Amendment rights — even for things they consider offensive or insulting.”

The Vermont State Police did not have a comment on the settlement. Vermont did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the deal.

Bombard said in a statement provided by the ACLU that he hopes the Vermont State Police will train its troopers “to avoid silencing criticism or making baseless car stops.”

This story has been updated to correct the name of an organization to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, instead of the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression.

ATypicalWhitePerson on June 26th, 2024 at 20:23 UTC »

Can we instead garnish the $175k from the cops salary instead of probably giving them paid vacation and letting taxpayers take the burden

55Sansar1998 on June 26th, 2024 at 20:05 UTC »

IIRC, there was a case a few years back, don't remember what state, and in the pre Google Maps days, in which the Court ruled that flashing your headlights to warn oncoming traffic of a speed trap was protected free speech

panda-rampage on June 26th, 2024 at 20:00 UTC »

First amendment victory for the man who was arrested for flipping off his middle finger at a Vermont state trooper

The state of Vermont has to pay the man the $100K and the ACLU $75K