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.
Cops are government employees, and hopefully the government cares about losing $175k over bullshit their employee did.
Yeah, they can afford to lose one or two, but if we all start flipping off cops and start getting charged, it’s going to add up.
Historically? No, not really. Arpiao was losing millions of dollars for his contracted cities before they started dropping contracts with him and forcing Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to operate only in unincorporated areas.