The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit allowed last week a lawsuit by a driver who made the vulgar gesture at a police officer.
In June 2017, Debra L. Cruise-Gulyas had been driving over the speed limit and, at first, the officer (Matthew W. Minard ) wrote her a ticket for a non-moving violation, which is less serious than a typical speeding ticket. While she was driving away, “apparently ungrateful for the reduction”, she gave the middle-finger salute to the police officer. So he pulled her over again and changed the ticket to reflect the more serious violation of speeding.
The woman claimed in a lawsuit that Officer Minard violated the First Amendment, by retaliating against her because of protected speech; the Fourth Amendment, because of the unreasonable seizure; and the 14th Amendment, for restricting her liberty.
In his defense, Officer Minard argued for “qualified immunity”. A district court denied that motion, and the appeals court did the same in its decision last week.
Fits of rudeness or lack of gratitude may violate the Golden Rule. But that doesn’t make them illegal or for that matter punishable or for that matter grounds for a seizure
Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton
You can read here the whole document from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
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