The Massachusetts man who said he was arrested after giving a police officer the middle finger has reached a $175,000 settlement in his case, the ACLU said Wednesday.
The civil rights group said that a state police officer pulled over Gregory Bombard and said he had made the move. Bombard denied it. After a fight, Bombard did give the cop the middle finger, which led to his arrest on charges of disorderly conduct, according to the ACLU.
“Police need to respect everyone’s First Amendment rights, even when it comes to things they find offensive or hurtful,” said Hillary Rich, an attorney with the ACLU of Vermont.
The officer and the state of Vermont were sued by the ACLU of Vermont and FIRE, which stands for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
The settlement deal says that the defendants did not say they were guilty.
The ACLU said Bombard will get $100,000 and the other $75,000 will go to his lawyers’ fees.
Bombard’s First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure were said to have been violated in the case.
FIRE shared a video of the officer telling Bombard that as he drove by, “it looked like you looked right at me and it looked like you stuck your middle finger up in my face.” This happened during the traffic stop.
Bombard says it’s not true, saying that the cop seems sensitive. “What is the ticket if someone snubbed you?” In the video, he asks, “What’s the crime?”
The cop says that he thought that kind of behavior meant someone was trying to get his attention and that it was strange.
The police officer tells Bombard he can leave and then walks back to his patrol car. Police officer in his car can be heard telling Bombard that he was going to pull him over for disorderly conduct because he used an offensive word and “flipped the bird.” Bombard then drives off.
A spokesman for the Vermont State Police said that the officer who was sued, Jay Riggen, had quit on May 31 and that the department had no more to say. Thursday, a phone number for Riggen could not be found right away.
Bullard said he was happy with the result in a statement put out by the ACLU and FIRE.
Bombard said, “I hope that the Vermont State Police will train its troopers not to shut down criticism or stop cars for no reason.” “At least I can now take my 88-year-old mother to a nice dinner and pay my lawyer for defending me against the false charges.”
