(NewsNation) — A retired law enforcement officer spent 37 days in jail, unable to pay a $2 million bond, over a meme he posted on Facebook following conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death. Now, he’s suing.
Larry Bushart, 61, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Tennessee on Wednesday, claiming he was wrongfully incarcerated and his free speech rights were violated.
“In America, we do not jail people for political speech. Yet Larry Bushart spent 37 days behind bars simply for speaking his mind,” the 30-page lawsuit said. “It took a national uproar about his detention for Perry County officials to drop the charge against Mr. Bushart—a charge officials knew from the outset was unfounded.”
According to the lawsuit, Bushart commented on a series of political memes in response to a Facebook post that promoted a candlelight vigil in Perry County, Tennessee, honoring Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10. One meme Bushart posted included an image of President Donald Trump with the quote, “We have to get over it.” He captioned the meme, “This seems relevant today…”
The quote from Trump was in reference to a statement he made after a January 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Iowa.
Bushart was arrested for “threatening mass violence at a school.” His bond was set at $2 million, which he was unable to pay, so he remained in jail until the criminal charges were dropped on Oct. 29.
He is suing Perry County, Tennessee, as well as the county Sheriff Nick Weems and county investigator Jason Morrow, who claimed Bushart’s post invoked fear in the community about a hypothetical shooting at their local school.
“It is clearly established that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from arresting people for protected political speech,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants Weems and Morrow understood Mr. Bushart’s post as political commentary on the debate about guns in America, but orchestrated his arrest anyway, flouting the long-entrenched First Amendment protection for even the most provocative, hyperbolic political speech.”
Bushart is requesting a jury trial and seeking both monetary and punitive damages in this case.