A retired Tennessee legislation enforcement officer was held in jail for greater than a month this fall after police arrested him over a Facebook put up of a meme associated to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Prosecutors finally dropped the felony cost introduced towards Larry Bushart, however his stint behind bars got here to exemplify the nation’s tense political and authorized local weather following the tragedy, when conservatives sought to stymie public discourse concerning the late controversial determine that it noticed as objectionable.
Now, Bushart is suing over his incarceration.
In a 30-page lawsuit filed in federal court docket in Tennessee, Bushart argues he was unlawfully prosecuted over the meme and that officers violated his free speech rights, focusing on him “simply for speaking his mind.”
“It is clearly established that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from arresting people for protected political speech,” attorneys for Bushart wrote within the criticism. He’s being represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Bushart’s authorized woes began 10 days after Kirk, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump who labored final yr to get him reelected, was fatally shot throughout an out of doors occasion at Utah Valley University on September 10. The former police officer shared a meme on Facebook a few vigil being held in Tennessee for Kirk.
“This seems relevant today,” learn the meme, which included a photograph of Trump and a quote the then-candidate made in 2024 following a shooting at Perry High School in Des Moines, Iowa.
“We have to get over it,” Trump is quoted as saying within the meme.
Four officers got here to Bushart’s house the subsequent day, arrested him and took him to jail for “threatening mass violence at a school.” Authorities on the time mentioned that the put up was understood domestically to be a risk to an space college that has an analogous identify to the one the place the 2024 capturing occurred, in response to court docket information.
Bushart was held behind bars for 37 days as a result of he was unable to pay the $2 million bond imposed on him. In late October, a district lawyer in Tennessee moved to drop the one cost introduced towards him, and he was subsequently launched.
“When Mr. Bushart posted the meme, he had no inkling or reason to think that anyone would take it as a threat of violence. And unsurprisingly, defendants … have produced no evidence that any person interpreted the meme as a threat,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, the Perry County School District has no records at all concerning Mr. Bushart or the meme.”
The lawsuit names as defendants Perry County, Tennessee,; Nick Weems, the county’s sheriff; and Jason Morrow, a county investigator concerned within the probe into Bushart.
Weems, in response to the lawsuit, directed native police to arrest Bushart, and each males “understood” the meme “as political commentary on the debate about guns in America, but orchestrated his arrest anyway.”
NCS has reached out to the county for remark. Weems and Morrow couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
Bushart is asking for a jury trial within the case, which seeks each financial and punitive damages for the alleged violations of his rights.
His attorneys mentioned in court docket papers that their shopper, who’s the first breadwinner for his home, misplaced his post-retirement job due to his time in jail and that the episode has stifled his “participation in online political conversation because he is afraid that something like his arrest and incarceration might happen to him again.”
“I spent over three decades in law enforcement, and have the utmost respect for the law,” Bushart mentioned in a press release Wednesday. “But I also know my rights, and I was arrested for nothing more than refusing to be bullied into censorship.”