The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that a $175,000 settlement had been struck in the complaint of a Vermont man who claimed he was jailed after giving an officer the middle finger.
According to the civil rights organization, a state police trooper stopped Gregory Bombard and accused him of making the sign, which Bombard disputed. An altercation ensued, and Bombard gave the officer the middle finger, prompting his detention on disorderly conduct charges, according to the ACLU.
“Police must respect everyone’s First Amendment rights, even if they find something offensive or insulting,” said Hillary Rich, staff attorney of the ACLU of Vermont, in a statement.
The ACLU of Vermont and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit against the trooper and the state of Vermont.
According to the settlement deal, the defendants made no admission of guilt. Bombard will receive $100,000, with the remaining $75,000 going toward attorneys’ fees, according to the ACLU.
The lawsuit claimed that Bombard’s First Amendment speech rights and Fourth Amendment protections against excessive search and seizure were violated. FIRE’s dashcam footage shows the officer telling Bombard during the traffic stop that, when he went by, “it looked like you looked right at me, and it looked like you stuck your middle finger up in my face.”
Bombard denied it, claiming the officer appeared sensitive. “What’s the citation if someone flipped you off? “What is the crime?” he asked in the video.
The officer replied that he thought a move like that implied someone was attempting to catch his attention, which was unusual.
The officer tells Bombard that he is free to leave and walks back to his patrol vehicle. Bombard then drives away, and the officer in his cruiser is heard saying that Bombard used an obscene word and “flipped the bird,” and that he was going to stop him and arrest him for disorderly conduct.
A Vermont State Police official said the trooper who was sued, Jay Riggen, resigned on May 31, and the agency had no further comment. Riggen’s phone number could not be found immediately on Thursday NBCNEWS reported.
In a statement made by the ACLU and FIRE, Bombard expressed his satisfaction with the verdict.
“With this settlement, I hope the Vermont State Police will train its troopers to avoid silencing criticism or making baseless car stops,” Mr. Bombard added. “And at least now I can pay my criminal attorney for defending me from the bogus charges and take my 88-year-old mother out for a nice dinner.”