Larry Bushart sued the sheriff of Perry County in Tennessee, who accused him of "threatening mass violence" for a meme he posted on Facebook after Charlie Kirk was killed
Credit: LadyJay Creations LLC.
NEED TO KNOW
- Larry Bushart, a retired police officer in Tennessee who spent 37 days in jail over a Facebook meme he posted after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, has agreed to a $835,000 settlement with the sheriff who had him arrested, his lawyers said Wednesday
- Bushart was arrested in September after he refused to take down the memes
- He was accused of threatening mass violence at a school after he posted a meme that included past comments from President Donald Trump about moving past a school shooting
A Tennessee man who spent 37 days in jail over a Facebook meme he posted after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has agreed to an $835,000 settlement with the sheriff who detained him, his lawyers said Wednesday.
Larry Bushart, 61, was arrested in September after he refused to take down memes he'd posted on Facebook about Kirk’s killing, including one he uploaded to a page advertising a vigil for Kirk in Perry County. The meme used a picture of President Donald Trump and his past comments about moving past a school shooting, "We have to get over it."
Trump made that remark after the January 2024 school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. The top of the meme read: "This seems relevant today…"
Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems said that some in the county perceived the meme as a threat against Perry County High School. The sheriff's office asked the police department in Bushart's town to send an officer to his home. Bodycam video released by Bushart's attorneys shows that Bushart and the responding officer were confused as to why he had been dispatched.
"So I'm just going to be completely honest with you, I have really no idea what they're talking about,” the officer said in the video. "He had just called me and said that there was some concerning posts that were made on Facebook. I don't know exactly what they're referring to. They said that something was insinuating violence."
"No it wasn't," Larry responded. "I'm not going to take it down.”
Bushart was then arrested on a charge of threatening mass violence at a school. His bail was set at $2 million. He remained in jail until the charge against him was dropped in October. His arrest was widely criticized.
In a statement Wednesday, Bushart said he had been vindicated. "The people's freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy," he said. "I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family."
While in jail, Bushart lost his post-retirement job and missed his wedding anniversary and the birth of his granddaughter, according to a federal lawsuit he filed in December against Perry County, its sheriff and the investigator who obtained the arrest warrant, alleging they had infringed on his Constitutional rights in retaliation for his protected speech.
Weems and the investigator named as defendants in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview in October with WTVF, Weems acknowledged that he knew the meme was referring to the school shooting in Iowa and that it did not contain threatening words that led investigators to consider it a real threat.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news and ongoing trial coverage.
"This has everything to do with a guy coming onto a Perry County page posting this picture leading people in our community to believe that there was a hypothetical Perry County High School shooting that caused fear in our community — and we done something about it," Weems told the station.
Bushart's attorneys said in his lawsuit that the sheriff's office had ignored public records requests for evidence that anyone interpreted the meme as a threat.
"No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message," Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represents Bushart, said in a statement Wednesday. "We're pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place."
Kirk's killing was widely discussed on social media, and many people lost their jobs or faced other consequences as a result of comments they made about it, but Bushart was a rare example of someone whose social media posts led to a felony charge.
Read the full article here
