Vermont man who was arrested after flipping off a state trooper SUES saying his First Amendment rights were violated
- Driver Gregory Bombard admits showing his middle finger and swearing at state trooper Jay Riggen in 2018
- He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, but the case was eventually dropped
- Now he is suing Riggen and his department for violating his constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression, as footage of the arrest emerges.
A Vermont driver who was prosecuted for “flipping the bird” on a state trooper during a traffic stop is suing the officer and the department for violating his First Amendment rights.
Police dashcam footage has now emerged of Jay Riggen pulling over Gregory Bombard on a snowy street north of Burlington nearly five years ago.
Riggen let him go after Bombard insisted the officer had made a mistake, but ticketed him for disorderly conduct when Bombard did it again as he drove away — additionally calling the trooper a “son of a bitch.”
The charges were ultimately dropped, but Bombard filed a test case in Washington County Civil Court, backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“Police are charged with protecting the public, not their own bruised egos,” said ACLU attorney Jay Diaz.
Vermont State Trooper Sergeant Jay Riggen pulled Gregory Bombard over and claimed he feared the middle finger he had just seen could be a plea for help on Bombard's part
Bombard initially denied making the gesture, but told Riggen 'you have to be very sensitive'
'It is clear from the footage that the officer was not concerned about Greg's safety. He just wanted to punish him for speaking up.”
Sergeant Riggen, a 17-year veteran of the department, told Bombard he stopped him because he feared the finger could be a call for help.
“You need something?” he asked.
“It looked like you looked right at me and stuck your middle finger in my face.”
Bombard denies making the gesture, but adds: “You must be very sensitive.”
The officer denies being “overly sensitive,” adding, “This is the first time in 12 years I've ever stopped someone who I saw was ripping me off, so I don't like those insinuations.”
“Maybe you haven't, but I think you can agree that if someone is looking for a soldier's attention, he will probably find it by giving him a negative signal.” Do you agree with that?'
“No, I don't, because I don't understand that,” Bombard replies.
Riggen eventually accepted Bombard's denials, but pulled him over again when the driver left.
“It looks like when he drove away he called me an a-hole and said 'f*** you,'” Riggen said over the radio. “I flipped the bird. I'm going to arrest him for disorderly conduct.'
This time, Bombard was ordered to leave and handcuffed to the hood of the police cruiser.
“How's that disorderly conduct?” Bombard asked.
“While the first interaction may have been a mistake, the second certainly was not.”
“Everyone understands what the middle finger means, so it's completely unreasonable for an officer to stop someone just because of that,” Diaz said.
“It seemed like a completely unnecessary stop first and then an unnecessary arrest. “Here it was done in retaliation for someone expressing their feelings to a public official.”
It is not the first time that the gesture has been tested in court.
Nearly five years after the February 2018 arrest, images have been released as the case goes to trial, with constitutional rights at stake
In 2017, Debra Cruise-Gulyas was stopped for speeding in Michigan and given a citation for a “non-moving violation.”
That was upgraded to a speeding ticket when she drove away and “made an all-too-familiar gesture toward (the officer) with her hand and without four of her fingers showing.”
Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit emphasized that the gesture is protected by the Constitution
“Any reasonable officer would know that a citizen who raises her middle finger is engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment.”