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.
That’s the biggest thing this country is missing right now. It’s OK to disagree with other people, but for some reason, people seem to think they are enemies because they disagree. We are all individuals, with our own views on everything. There isn’t a single person in the world that I agree with 100% on everything. To assume that anyone I disagree with is somehow evil, or my enemy, is insane.
Definitely one major reason has been that there’s been an incredibly effective propaganda machine constantly telling people that’s the case. It started taking off in the 90s.
Part of the problem, and I don’t remember who summed it up this way but it’s as accurate a description as I’ve ever seen, is that the conservative mindset is exactly this: “I’m allowed to tell you what to do, but you are not allowed to tell me what to do.”