Current:Home > MyTennessee officials to pay $125K to settle claim they arrested a man for meme about fallen officer -OceanicInvest
Tennessee officials to pay $125K to settle claim they arrested a man for meme about fallen officer
View
Date:2025-04-16 04:11:49
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities in Tennessee have settled a First Amendment lawsuit for $125,000, the plaintiff’s attorneys said Monday. The suit was filed by a man who said he was arrested over a disparaging social media post about a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty.
Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested in January 2021 after posting a meme depicting two people urinating on a gravestone with a photo of a Dickson County sheriff’s officer who was fatally shot in 2018 pasted into the image. Garton’s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville, saying their client’s First Amendment right to free speech was violated.
Garton’s post was captioned, “Just showing my respect to deputy Daniel Baker from the #dicksoncountypolicedepartment.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in at the request of District Attorney Ray Crouch. Investigators determined the photo was taken from an album cover with a copy of Baker’s official work portrait “crudely” edited onto the grave, court documents show.
Garton was charged with harassment and jailed for nearly two weeks on a $76,000 bond until a Dickson County judge dismissed the charges.
“First Amendment retaliation is illegal, and law enforcement officials who arrest people for offending them will pay heavy consequences,” Garton’s lead counsel, Daniel Horwitz, said in a news release Monday. “Misbehaving government officials apologize with money, and Mr. Garton considers more than $10,000.00 per day that he was illegally incarcerated to be an acceptable apology.”
A copy of the notarized settlement signed by Garton was included in the news release, showing he agreed to accept $125,000 from the state to settle claims against two Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials and Crouch, the district attorney. The agreement also says the government defendants are not admitting wrongdoing, liability or concession by settling, but instead are seeking to “avoid the burden and expense of continuing this litigation.”
A court filing Monday by Garton’s attorneys notified the judge of the settlement and said the lawsuit should be dismissed.
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson declined to comment. Crouch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Documents released under a public records request filed by Horwitz show investigators believed Garton’s social media post could be perceived as threatening or intimidating to Baker’s surviving relatives — even though he did not send it to them.
“The trolls will do what trolls do. It appears they and the lawyers forget that there are surviving family members who have rights as well,” TBI Director David Rausch said in a text conversation included in the records.
The lawsuit argued Garton was the victim of “false arrest and malicious prosecution” with authorities “incarcerating him for weeks and broadcasting his mugshot and the fact of his arrest to news media and the public in retaliation for disrespecting police.”
veryGood! (1162)
Related
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Shooting kills 3 people including a young child in a car on an Alabama street
- Thousands of fish found dead in California lake, puzzling authorities
- Republican National Convention in Milwaukee has law enforcement on heightened awareness
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Dolphin mass stranding on Cape Cod found to be the largest in US history
- Olympic Scandals That Shook the Sports World
- Biden tries to balance his condemnation of the attack on Trump with the ongoing 2024 campaign
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- Caitlin Clark's next game: Indiana Fever vs. Minnesota Lynx on Sunday
Ranking
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Kate, Princess of Wales, is at Wimbledon in a rare public appearance since revealing she has cancer
- Horoscopes Today, July 13, 2024
- Meta ends restrictions on Trump's Facebook, Instagram accounts ahead of GOP convention
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Allyson Felix, Pampers to launch first-ever nursery at Paris Olympics
- Globetrotting butterflies traveled 2,600 miles across the Atlantic, stunned scientists say
- Trump rally shooter identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20-year-old Pennsylvania man. Here's what we know so far.
Recommendation
Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
England vs. Spain: What to know, how to watch and stream UEFA Euro 2024 final
Delta Air Lines adopts new rules for flight attendant uniforms after Palestinian pin flap
Man gets life in prison over plot to rape and murder famous British TV personality in case cracked by undercover U.S. cop
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
'Shogun' wins four TCA Awards, including including top honors
SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets grounded pending FAA investigation into Starlink launch failure
Mega Millions winning numbers for July 12 drawing: Jackpot now worth $226 million