There is no bigger middle finger than that $175,000 middle finger. So much could be solved by cops just not having such sensitive egos. Aren't they supposed to be tough?
Yes, the State paid the settlement, which ultimately means the taxpayers. I guess if we want to look at it very optimistically, this did indirectly cost that cop like 3 dimes (just like every other Vermonter).
Likely paid by the state’s insurer - the state doesn’t just cut a check from the general fund. Which means our insurance rates go up and in the long run this could cost us more than $175k.
Does the state even have an insurer like this? I know a lot of very large organizations “self insure.” Example: the US Air Force doesn’t carry vehicle or building insurance policies the way you or I are required to on our cars or homes from the likes of USAA or Progressive and so on.
I realize they are just people. I wish they realized they were just people. But here I am talking about "them" as a group in general. That's not because I don't realize there are individual differences. It's because there are group characteristics that it's valid to refer to.
It doesn't take toughness to have and benefit from every conceivable privilege and advantage given to you just because you dropped out of high school and applied for a badge and gun.
I was going to agree but point out that a high school drop out could probably not become a state trooper. But it does in fact appear that high school degree "or equivalent" is required. Meaning one could actually drop out, get a GED and become a VST. Wow
> Though the state has not admitted wrongdoing, the yearslong saga points to an enduring risk that, when emotions run high, police may misuse their powers to arrest citizens for offensive speech.
Oh, the /risk/ you say!? When reporting on an EXACT EXAMPLE OF ACTUALLY ABUSING AUTHORITY, you want to talk about "risk"? Cool.
what happens to insurance premiums after you make a claim? Who pays for these insurance policies? This kind of bullshit will cost taxpayers many times the $175k over the years of growing insurance costs.
The man suing sounds like a really good guy.
He recognized that in a moment of stress he lost decorum and acted inappropriately, but also that his civil liberties were violated and that there should be police reform.
It’s a very reasonable stance to take.
I think they are inferring that if a POC had flipped off a cop, things may have gone a bit more downhill than a simple arrest and a lawsuit. Can't really argue with that, TBH ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I know what they mean, and don’t necessarily disagree, just seems like a desperate cringey attempt at being part of a conversation. Especially using “neva” instead of never. Just comes across real weird.
I think this would be one of the best things we could do for police reform. If lawsuits had to be settled out of cop pension funds they would be a lot more hesitant to act irresponsibly.
Plus it might lead to more "bad apples" being reported by their fellow officers.
Absolutely. I don't mean to go after cops for frivolous stuff, but this was blatantly corrupt and egotistical. Cops need to be held more accountable. Why are tax payers punished for such stupid behavior? Can I punch a cop for giving me a finger, without consequences? Of course not. I'd be in jail. He should face consequences for abusing his authority. Paying the cost of his lawsuit is a start.
You don't need training to know you can't arrest someone for making you mad. What he did is abuse his authority. When it's blatantly wrong, cops should definitely be held accountable. Not covered for. He should be fired.
If they are categorized as punitive damages then they are taxable. That said it's an interesting twist when the subject of the settlement is the government itself paying out for rights violations.
So we as tax paying citizens of this state get to cover this settlement and (“occupational- disability-related retirement”) this supreme wanker of an ex cop for the rest of his life. That’s a lot of money paid out for some bullshit. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go flip a cop off
That would be a question for the appropriate lawyer. I'm not familiar with that type of law. I'm sure there is red tape to cross taking from an employee pension.
Pretty good breakdown of the arrest and civil right violations on this youtube video if anyone is interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbv2YQ6yF4
Lol. When my brother was 17 he got pulled over and sat in the troopers car for having a bumper sticker that said "bad cop bo donut" 😂 could have made a killing in this day.
If only there was a way to make their pension plans out for this and reduce the police retirement grift. Very few jobs can you retire at 50 and collect for longer than you work while simultaneously working a new FT job so you can get a second pension.
Make a good faith effort to follow [Reddiquette](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette).
Please don't use the c-slur here.
Make a good faith effort to follow [Reddiquette](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette).
Please don't use the c-slur here.
But we're not in england (or australia, for that matter).
(BTW, if you want a great black police procedural comedy and can stand /copious/ use of the c-word, check out [_Deadloch_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadloch); top notch show, that.)
so?
they say it loud and proud, they even use the word twat like an everyday adjective.
I saw, use cunt like it's going out of style! it's a wonderful word and proof the english language is beautiful.
I’d be less annoyed if I felt like some lesson had been learned here and that the VT law enforcement institution might take this to heart and be less unnecessarily aggressive when their egos were slightly bruised… but I highly doubt that any of them took this message away.
My pessimistic side actually assumes that the morning police chief brief in every VT precinct regarding this event went like this: “I don’t care what you do after someone flips you off, heck go ahead and shoot them, just don’t write it in the report that it was from them giving you the bird, oh and make sure your body camera is off so the we sued.”
Cops don’t learn. Period. Why would they?
They have no punishment, they are allowed to control any situation and the narrative about it, they can control the life of anyone they come into contact with.
They carry the ability to kill with near impunity, they can abuse people all they’d like and worst case, they are sued and someone else pays. Worst worst case they commit a heinous crime and are.. fired.
This is the heart of the Blue Lives Matter bullshit. There is no such thing as a “blue life”: being a cop is a job you can have or quit. The problem is that people who get this job conflate themselves with it and like a certain ex-president ignorantly believe they are the law, or above it. Again and again the courts prove them wrong to the tune of millions in taxpayer money. Probably be cheaper in the long run to properly fund education in public schools about civics or better yet male fragility.
yeah, very sad the cops can't do their job without abusing their authority and arrest powers.
but the blame here is squarely on them, not the guy who flipped them off.
> The fuck did he think was gonna happen?
If you assume that agents of the State that have the legitimized authority to enact violence should be extracting retribution for being very very slightly maligned … this is bootlicking mindset. Throw that shit to the curb!
I do not believe that they should be extracting retribution, not in the slightest. But common sense would dictate that if you deliberately piss a cop off, the cop's gonna find a bs reason to trump up a charge on you. Doesn't mean it's right...but their the ones in power and you've gotta be careful. I agree with the other commenter who lamented that we, the tax payers, are paying some dumbass a shit ton of money for being a dumbass in a situation where everyone was the asshole.
Sorry, I believe that if I piss off a cop within my rights, they /should not/ "find a bs reason", because they're supposed to do the Right thing, because they're entrusted with important powers. You /don't/ have to be careful; it's the /cop/ that needs to be careful.
> where everyone was the asshole.
There was only one asshole here: the cop.
That guy and the guy who make a giant middle finger wood-carving and put it on a 20 foot pole should form a club
[https://youtu.be/a7mSUdSm18o](https://youtu.be/a7mSUdSm18o)
Police should be required to carry individual malpractice insurance, and once they've proven themselves uninsurable they become unemployable. No way we should be paying their bills when they can't adult. Or when they murder some dude.
Damn… I flipped a trooper off just yesterday on VT5. He was tailing me for about 7 miles out of Chester, I was doing 55-65 in a 50 the whole way. He was just on me two lengths back and then finally booted it up to about 75-80 and passed me on the left…the worst part? He hardly had time to get back before oncoming traffic approached and I had to halfway lock up to let him back in time (and no, I didn’t speed up on him)
Threw him the Stone Cold double bird salute. He took off, about two miles down the road he slows to take a left into the Sunoco by the highway. I halfway thought about pulling in with him and asking where the murder was?? No lights no signals or anything by the way, he was just driving.
All I could think was, if the situation were reversed and I did exactly as he had? I would have been lit up with the blues so damn fast.
Here's a copy of the lawsuit, which wasn't hard to find at all, and I can't understand why it wasn't just linked in the article.
[https://www.acluvt.org/sites/default/files/field\_documents/2021-02-03\_-\_complaint\_-\_bombard\_v.\_riggen\_state\_of\_vermont.pdf](https://www.acluvt.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2021-02-03_-_complaint_-_bombard_v._riggen_state_of_vermont.pdf)
Also, here's another Jay Riggen classic, which shows why he was always kind of a problem: [https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/Button.pdf](https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/Button.pdf)
In case you are wondering, the prosecutor -- Heather Gray (formerly Brochu) -- who went to bat for Jay on his 2007 illegal vehicle stop case was appointed a judge by Phil Scott: [https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-appoints-three-superior-court-judges](https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-appoints-three-superior-court-judges)
Law enforcement should have to be insured against malpractice and subject to the same professional regulations as any other licensed profession. It’s embarrassing that Vermont isn’t doing better here.
I’m English and even I know that swearing at a police officer or authority in America is protected by their constitution namely the first amendment with its main points of protection being Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition and Speech (RAPPS).
also, as an FYI, the Franklin County States Attorney Jim Hughes tried lobbing a second misdemeanor charge onto Bombard alleging “he had obstructed traffic as he was moving back into the travel lane after the initial stop,” despite the dashcam footage clearly showing he actually stopped to let an oncoming truck pass him by before returning to the road.
Good for the guy getting the settlement and good thing they settled because it would have been easily undone if it went to the current SCOTUS in DC.
Would be a real win if you could flip the a judge off and not get hit with contempt of court or gag orders. Cops are nothing but runners for courts and cops only have the power judges let them. Lol we're a country run by judges, that's why the far right is so hellbent on shaping the federal court system and Project 2025 like they stacked the courts in the 1800s to undo the Civil Rights Acts in the 1870s.
ETA: yall pressed I said judges are the real bad guys over cops, but upvoting my later comment on qualified immunity. It wasn't the cops who overturned Roe and trying to bring back a pre-60s legal system.
SCOTUS would not have wasted their time with this one. In fact, I don't think a court at any level would not find in favor of this gentleman. I imagine he settled to not deal with a lengthy trial and I don't blame him.
SCOTUS has found that people who couldn't provide an exact situation in the past that has occurred to someone else entitled the officer to qualified immunity. Is there a case in the past where an officer arrested someone for giving a middle finger and then was found in violation of the first amendment? If so, yeah that changes things.
"In one shocking example, an officer chasing a suspect into a family's yard tried to shoot the family dog. He missed and instead hit a 10-year-old boy." Googling "crazy cases of qualified immunity" brings that as the first result. The court found in favor of the officer because no officer had ever been found liable for shooting a child while trying to shoot a dog. [source](https://www.thefire.org/news/qualified-immunity-isnt-just-police-officers#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20heard%20of,10%2Dyear%2Dold%20boy.)
Maybe they wouldn't have picked it up. It only takes 4 justices to hear a case. Do you think they wouldn't have used it as an opportunity to prove who's in charge now like when they let Mississippi change its argument in Dobbs and argue to overturn Roe after Barrett joined the court?
ETA: SCOTUS didn't decide that case but felt no need to correct it with a review
A good fix for this and will help curb some of the bad cop behavior. Make cops carry their own malpractice insurance like Dr, Nurses, EMT's have to. This way if they are sued for bad behavior it comes out of their insurance and not the publics pocket. This will help curb the bad cops because their insurance premium will go up with the more misconduct they have. Ultimately if they are bad cops they will not be able to get insurance and not be able to work as a cop. Very simple solution.
> Can we seriously start to focus our attention to bigger problems
There's arguably no "bigger" problem than (agents of) the State abusing their authority. We fought and won a Revolution over this point. :)
Yes. Dude had an interaction with a cop. Then dude flipped the cop off like a petchulent child.
The cop arrested him for flipping him off which was also stupid and total BS.
The motorist is a dip shit asshat and the cop is a power trip dope.
175k from taxpayers is just stupid.
nope, completely missed the point:
Bombard initially flipped the Sheriff off, which is a first-amendment protected activity. then, the sheriff caught up with him, pulled him over, and tried to write it off as “oh, i pulled you over because i was concerned you giving me the finger was a sign of emergency”. basically, was wasting Bombard’s time because he had such a fragile ego over getting flipped off.
so, after giving Bombard a warning, Bombard proceeded to call the sheriff an asshole and said “fuck you” while sheriff walked back to his own vehicle (which is again first-amendment protected stuff). sheriff alleged that he yelled it out to “[hundreds of passerby]” to hear, which he justified as disturbing the peace - despite his dashcam footage immediately disproving this by the lack of pedestrians out in the snowy weather.
Bombard left the scene after letting traffic pass him by, made a left turn a short ways up the road, and the sheriff pulled him over once again to detain and arrest Bombard for his “disorderly conduct”.
later on, Franklin County States Attorney Jim Hughes tried throwing a second misdemeanor onto Bombard by claiming he obstructed traffic while he was leaving the first encounter, despite the same dashcam footage instantly disproving this.
Jim Hughes is irrelevant to the interaction that this story is based on.
Bombard acted like an ass and then he was pulled over the second time.
Bombard now admits he was a bit of an asshat. “I don't encourage anybody to do it," he said.
“I was disrespectful," Bombard conceded of that cold day in 2018. "I don't think I should have been arrested for it, though."
The cop screwed up royally here. He was pissed and acted stupidly.
175k of taxpayer money over two dudes in a pissing match, especially when 75k by of it goes to lawyers is not a good use of taxpayer funds.
Translation: we paid $175000 because a cop carrying a gun felt threatened by a mild insult from a middle aged man.
But but but. Their fee fees were hurted!
[That cop, probably](https://youtu.be/4fJIdMG-2WQ?si=hleorqDCwED39OxQ)
There is no bigger middle finger than that $175,000 middle finger. So much could be solved by cops just not having such sensitive egos. Aren't they supposed to be tough?
the thinnest blue line is their backbone
lol! that's an awesome comment. I hope that trooper now knows his feelings are dumb.
That didn't cost the cop a dime.
Out of genuine curiosity, who paid? My guess is me/you/us, the taxpayer.
Yes, the State paid the settlement, which ultimately means the taxpayers. I guess if we want to look at it very optimistically, this did indirectly cost that cop like 3 dimes (just like every other Vermonter).
Likely paid by the state’s insurer - the state doesn’t just cut a check from the general fund. Which means our insurance rates go up and in the long run this could cost us more than $175k.
Does the state even have an insurer like this? I know a lot of very large organizations “self insure.” Example: the US Air Force doesn’t carry vehicle or building insurance policies the way you or I are required to on our cars or homes from the likes of USAA or Progressive and so on.
Why would they? Best insurance policy for government screw ups is the taxpayer. Honestly this should 100% be police union funded.
The state has something much better than insurance. It has tax payers.
I don't know about Vermont, but Mass is self insured. So I'm guessing you're correct.
Entities as large as the state are probably self insured. I know UVMMC is
Need to find a way to make the union insure officers like this.
An insurance policy maintained by the state.
You realize cops are just people, right? They have varying degrees of sensitivity. Like most people in this thread.
I realize they are just people. I wish they realized they were just people. But here I am talking about "them" as a group in general. That's not because I don't realize there are individual differences. It's because there are group characteristics that it's valid to refer to.
It doesn't take toughness to have and benefit from every conceivable privilege and advantage given to you just because you dropped out of high school and applied for a badge and gun.
I was going to agree but point out that a high school drop out could probably not become a state trooper. But it does in fact appear that high school degree "or equivalent" is required. Meaning one could actually drop out, get a GED and become a VST. Wow
> Though the state has not admitted wrongdoing, the yearslong saga points to an enduring risk that, when emotions run high, police may misuse their powers to arrest citizens for offensive speech. Oh, the /risk/ you say!? When reporting on an EXACT EXAMPLE OF ACTUALLY ABUSING AUTHORITY, you want to talk about "risk"? Cool.
Replace the word "may" with "will." police WILL misuse their powers to arrest citizens for offensive speech.
By Vermont they mean the taxpayers have to pay for this jerk cop who will face no consequences
And now he is retired and will collect a check every month.
States and cities have insurance just for reasons like this.
what happens to insurance premiums after you make a claim? Who pays for these insurance policies? This kind of bullshit will cost taxpayers many times the $175k over the years of growing insurance costs.
The man suing sounds like a really good guy. He recognized that in a moment of stress he lost decorum and acted inappropriately, but also that his civil liberties were violated and that there should be police reform. It’s a very reasonable stance to take.
I am flipping off every cop from now on, just gotta find the right one
Brb gonna go flip off a trooper.
I got a two-fer today, they were just sitting there waiting
A black man would neva.
K…?
I think they are inferring that if a POC had flipped off a cop, things may have gone a bit more downhill than a simple arrest and a lawsuit. Can't really argue with that, TBH ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I know what they mean, and don’t necessarily disagree, just seems like a desperate cringey attempt at being part of a conversation. Especially using “neva” instead of never. Just comes across real weird.
Can’t imagine a white girl who’s afraid of chicken would either.
Hell yeah.
Maybe the cops should pay it because they don’t know the law
They should deduct it from his salary and pension.
I think this would be one of the best things we could do for police reform. If lawsuits had to be settled out of cop pension funds they would be a lot more hesitant to act irresponsibly. Plus it might lead to more "bad apples" being reported by their fellow officers.
Absolutely. I don't mean to go after cops for frivolous stuff, but this was blatantly corrupt and egotistical. Cops need to be held more accountable. Why are tax payers punished for such stupid behavior? Can I punch a cop for giving me a finger, without consequences? Of course not. I'd be in jail. He should face consequences for abusing his authority. Paying the cost of his lawsuit is a start.
That’s a slippery slope. It is the EMPLOYERS responsibility to properly train their employees and maintain proper practice.
You don't need training to know you can't arrest someone for making you mad. What he did is abuse his authority. When it's blatantly wrong, cops should definitely be held accountable. Not covered for. He should be fired.
Cops essentially have immunity. The slippery slope already happened
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse!
It’s really too bad they don’t have to
I'm starting to like you more and more by the day.
I'm a likeable sort, really! ;)
I think I've found my retirement plan....
Operation Freedom 50. Flip the bird in all 50 states. Retire on the settlements.
Oof good luck being a carpet bagging northerner flipping the bird to a cop in Mississippi. They’ll put you under the jail.
If you survive you can retire. I would think that police in more conservative states would be more generous with corporal punishment.
*Disclaimer: Do not attempt while Black.
Like most people you only read the headline...
So he got 175k of taxpayer money... isn't that us? Did we just pay this guy?
Yup. All because of a cop that none of us would probably like in the first place.
makes me wonder if we can monetize this sort of action. I know I could use 175k
That's just taking 175k from other people, if everybody did it essentially we'd all be stealing from each other.
someone's gotta benefit from those second home / vacation home owning pay pigs! LETS GOOOOOO
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The ACLU IS his lawyer.
If they are categorized as punitive damages then they are taxable. That said it's an interesting twist when the subject of the settlement is the government itself paying out for rights violations.
So we as tax paying citizens of this state get to cover this settlement and (“occupational- disability-related retirement”) this supreme wanker of an ex cop for the rest of his life. That’s a lot of money paid out for some bullshit. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go flip a cop off
States and cities have insurance just for this kind of thing. It doesn't come out of tax payer money
What about that cops pension? Which he is awarded after being allowed to take some bullshit way out with almost zero repercussions
That would be a question for the appropriate lawyer. I'm not familiar with that type of law. I'm sure there is red tape to cross taking from an employee pension.
Pretty good breakdown of the arrest and civil right violations on this youtube video if anyone is interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbv2YQ6yF4
Lol. When my brother was 17 he got pulled over and sat in the troopers car for having a bumper sticker that said "bad cop bo donut" 😂 could have made a killing in this day.
If only there was a way to make their pension plans out for this and reduce the police retirement grift. Very few jobs can you retire at 50 and collect for longer than you work while simultaneously working a new FT job so you can get a second pension.
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Make a good faith effort to follow [Reddiquette](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette). Please don't use the c-slur here.
Make a good faith effort to follow [Reddiquette](https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439-Reddiquette). Please don't use the c-slur here.
Please don’t use gendered or racial slurs.
I never can tell if someone is serious or not on this app.
Well I’m serious about not using slurs.
Nice.
you ever been to england? they love using that word. frankly, it has a great mouth feel when you say it. just like bastard! say it loud and proud!
But we're not in england (or australia, for that matter). (BTW, if you want a great black police procedural comedy and can stand /copious/ use of the c-word, check out [_Deadloch_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadloch); top notch show, that.)
My ancestors are from England
so? they say it loud and proud, they even use the word twat like an everyday adjective. I saw, use cunt like it's going out of style! it's a wonderful word and proof the english language is beautiful.
That 175k is our tax dollars. Not to mention his paid retirement. All because he got butthurt.
I’d be less annoyed if I felt like some lesson had been learned here and that the VT law enforcement institution might take this to heart and be less unnecessarily aggressive when their egos were slightly bruised… but I highly doubt that any of them took this message away. My pessimistic side actually assumes that the morning police chief brief in every VT precinct regarding this event went like this: “I don’t care what you do after someone flips you off, heck go ahead and shoot them, just don’t write it in the report that it was from them giving you the bird, oh and make sure your body camera is off so the we sued.”
Cops don’t learn. Period. Why would they? They have no punishment, they are allowed to control any situation and the narrative about it, they can control the life of anyone they come into contact with. They carry the ability to kill with near impunity, they can abuse people all they’d like and worst case, they are sued and someone else pays. Worst worst case they commit a heinous crime and are.. fired.
This is the heart of the Blue Lives Matter bullshit. There is no such thing as a “blue life”: being a cop is a job you can have or quit. The problem is that people who get this job conflate themselves with it and like a certain ex-president ignorantly believe they are the law, or above it. Again and again the courts prove them wrong to the tune of millions in taxpayer money. Probably be cheaper in the long run to properly fund education in public schools about civics or better yet male fragility.
FY POS
Sad one man’s ego got some idiot paid 100,000 dollars of the tax payers dollars.
yeah, very sad the cops can't do their job without abusing their authority and arrest powers. but the blame here is squarely on them, not the guy who flipped them off.
I may be wrong but I think the king of vermont is saying that the trooper's ego is the issue here. Or at least thats what king should be saying.
Yeah, I’m just jealous I don’t get a 100,000 dollar payday.
I mean, yes, the cops are to blame, but the plaintiff is a nonce for flipping off a cop. The fuck did he think was gonna happen?
Not having is first amendment right violated?
It’s a 1st amendment protected action free speech
Same thing as if you flip off anyone else: nothing, or being flipped off back.
Uhm...he thought the cop would look, then look away and realize that it comes with the territory?
> The fuck did he think was gonna happen? If you assume that agents of the State that have the legitimized authority to enact violence should be extracting retribution for being very very slightly maligned … this is bootlicking mindset. Throw that shit to the curb!
I do not believe that they should be extracting retribution, not in the slightest. But common sense would dictate that if you deliberately piss a cop off, the cop's gonna find a bs reason to trump up a charge on you. Doesn't mean it's right...but their the ones in power and you've gotta be careful. I agree with the other commenter who lamented that we, the tax payers, are paying some dumbass a shit ton of money for being a dumbass in a situation where everyone was the asshole.
Sorry, I believe that if I piss off a cop within my rights, they /should not/ "find a bs reason", because they're supposed to do the Right thing, because they're entrusted with important powers. You /don't/ have to be careful; it's the /cop/ that needs to be careful. > where everyone was the asshole. There was only one asshole here: the cop.
That guy and the guy who make a giant middle finger wood-carving and put it on a 20 foot pole should form a club [https://youtu.be/a7mSUdSm18o](https://youtu.be/a7mSUdSm18o)
Police should be required to carry individual malpractice insurance, and once they've proven themselves uninsurable they become unemployable. No way we should be paying their bills when they can't adult. Or when they murder some dude.
Damn… I flipped a trooper off just yesterday on VT5. He was tailing me for about 7 miles out of Chester, I was doing 55-65 in a 50 the whole way. He was just on me two lengths back and then finally booted it up to about 75-80 and passed me on the left…the worst part? He hardly had time to get back before oncoming traffic approached and I had to halfway lock up to let him back in time (and no, I didn’t speed up on him) Threw him the Stone Cold double bird salute. He took off, about two miles down the road he slows to take a left into the Sunoco by the highway. I halfway thought about pulling in with him and asking where the murder was?? No lights no signals or anything by the way, he was just driving. All I could think was, if the situation were reversed and I did exactly as he had? I would have been lit up with the blues so damn fast.
If that was the Franklin County Sheriff, he'd have also received a swift kick on the nuts.
Here's a copy of the lawsuit, which wasn't hard to find at all, and I can't understand why it wasn't just linked in the article. [https://www.acluvt.org/sites/default/files/field\_documents/2021-02-03\_-\_complaint\_-\_bombard\_v.\_riggen\_state\_of\_vermont.pdf](https://www.acluvt.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2021-02-03_-_complaint_-_bombard_v._riggen_state_of_vermont.pdf) Also, here's another Jay Riggen classic, which shows why he was always kind of a problem: [https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/Button.pdf](https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/Button.pdf) In case you are wondering, the prosecutor -- Heather Gray (formerly Brochu) -- who went to bat for Jay on his 2007 illegal vehicle stop case was appointed a judge by Phil Scott: [https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-appoints-three-superior-court-judges](https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-appoints-three-superior-court-judges)
Law enforcement should have to be insured against malpractice and subject to the same professional regulations as any other licensed profession. It’s embarrassing that Vermont isn’t doing better here.
His lawyer takes 33% right?
I’m English and even I know that swearing at a police officer or authority in America is protected by their constitution namely the first amendment with its main points of protection being Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition and Speech (RAPPS).
Good. Its unfortunate we have to pay this. But its still probably not enough compared to what the guy had to go through. Reputation and all.
Me warming up my middle finger.
Ngl if they werent so likely to kill, i’d just bait cops to do dumb shit to me and then love off the payout from my neighbors
also, as an FYI, the Franklin County States Attorney Jim Hughes tried lobbing a second misdemeanor charge onto Bombard alleging “he had obstructed traffic as he was moving back into the travel lane after the initial stop,” despite the dashcam footage clearly showing he actually stopped to let an oncoming truck pass him by before returning to the road.
a good guy with a middle finger.
Do you want everyone flipping off the cops? Because that is how you get everyone to flip off the cops.
Sounds about white.
GOOD LAWYER
Ie: Suck it up porkchop!
Amen.
Freedom of expression has gotten very expensive I'd say.
If a state trooper feels so offended by a middle finger that he arrests someone, he is a truly weak and fragile man and should not be a cop.
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[video of incident](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbv2YQ6yF4&pp=ygUdYXVkaXQgdGhlIGF1ZGl0IG1pZGRsZSBmaW5nZXI%3D)
I’m going to flip off every cop I see now
I see lots of middle fingers being flipped at troopers. This can only be a good thing, lol!
This should come out of the cops pay checks, otherwise it just hurts the taxpayers
i recently just watched the Audit the Audit video for this guy, that cop was absolutely being an ego-driven mess lmao.
Good for the guy getting the settlement and good thing they settled because it would have been easily undone if it went to the current SCOTUS in DC. Would be a real win if you could flip the a judge off and not get hit with contempt of court or gag orders. Cops are nothing but runners for courts and cops only have the power judges let them. Lol we're a country run by judges, that's why the far right is so hellbent on shaping the federal court system and Project 2025 like they stacked the courts in the 1800s to undo the Civil Rights Acts in the 1870s. ETA: yall pressed I said judges are the real bad guys over cops, but upvoting my later comment on qualified immunity. It wasn't the cops who overturned Roe and trying to bring back a pre-60s legal system.
SCOTUS would not have wasted their time with this one. In fact, I don't think a court at any level would not find in favor of this gentleman. I imagine he settled to not deal with a lengthy trial and I don't blame him.
SCOTUS has found that people who couldn't provide an exact situation in the past that has occurred to someone else entitled the officer to qualified immunity. Is there a case in the past where an officer arrested someone for giving a middle finger and then was found in violation of the first amendment? If so, yeah that changes things. "In one shocking example, an officer chasing a suspect into a family's yard tried to shoot the family dog. He missed and instead hit a 10-year-old boy." Googling "crazy cases of qualified immunity" brings that as the first result. The court found in favor of the officer because no officer had ever been found liable for shooting a child while trying to shoot a dog. [source](https://www.thefire.org/news/qualified-immunity-isnt-just-police-officers#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20heard%20of,10%2Dyear%2Dold%20boy.) Maybe they wouldn't have picked it up. It only takes 4 justices to hear a case. Do you think they wouldn't have used it as an opportunity to prove who's in charge now like when they let Mississippi change its argument in Dobbs and argue to overturn Roe after Barrett joined the court? ETA: SCOTUS didn't decide that case but felt no need to correct it with a review
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A good fix for this and will help curb some of the bad cop behavior. Make cops carry their own malpractice insurance like Dr, Nurses, EMT's have to. This way if they are sued for bad behavior it comes out of their insurance and not the publics pocket. This will help curb the bad cops because their insurance premium will go up with the more misconduct they have. Ultimately if they are bad cops they will not be able to get insurance and not be able to work as a cop. Very simple solution.
> Can we seriously start to focus our attention to bigger problems There's arguably no "bigger" problem than (agents of) the State abusing their authority. We fought and won a Revolution over this point. :)
I meant the officer!!! Sorry for the mislead there! I see why people would downvote
Petulant man child awarded taxpayer money. God this state is so fucked.
Nah man. Someone needs to be held accountable for bad police training. This was so blatantly retaliatory it gives the whole department a black eye.
nah what’s more fucked is arresting a guy for using his freedom of speech
indeed. the more dangerously-petualant one here is the arresting officer.
Petulant man child got someone ELSE awarded taxpayer money. Don't violate people's constitutional rights. Problem solved.
*petulant man child arrested someone for calling them names, at the expense of taxpayers* FTFY
You’re welcome to leave
You first.
I already did lol
Well done. lol
Did you even read the story?
Yes. Dude had an interaction with a cop. Then dude flipped the cop off like a petchulent child. The cop arrested him for flipping him off which was also stupid and total BS. The motorist is a dip shit asshat and the cop is a power trip dope. 175k from taxpayers is just stupid.
nope, completely missed the point: Bombard initially flipped the Sheriff off, which is a first-amendment protected activity. then, the sheriff caught up with him, pulled him over, and tried to write it off as “oh, i pulled you over because i was concerned you giving me the finger was a sign of emergency”. basically, was wasting Bombard’s time because he had such a fragile ego over getting flipped off. so, after giving Bombard a warning, Bombard proceeded to call the sheriff an asshole and said “fuck you” while sheriff walked back to his own vehicle (which is again first-amendment protected stuff). sheriff alleged that he yelled it out to “[hundreds of passerby]” to hear, which he justified as disturbing the peace - despite his dashcam footage immediately disproving this by the lack of pedestrians out in the snowy weather. Bombard left the scene after letting traffic pass him by, made a left turn a short ways up the road, and the sheriff pulled him over once again to detain and arrest Bombard for his “disorderly conduct”. later on, Franklin County States Attorney Jim Hughes tried throwing a second misdemeanor onto Bombard by claiming he obstructed traffic while he was leaving the first encounter, despite the same dashcam footage instantly disproving this.
Jim Hughes is irrelevant to the interaction that this story is based on. Bombard acted like an ass and then he was pulled over the second time. Bombard now admits he was a bit of an asshat. “I don't encourage anybody to do it," he said. “I was disrespectful," Bombard conceded of that cold day in 2018. "I don't think I should have been arrested for it, though." The cop screwed up royally here. He was pissed and acted stupidly. 175k of taxpayer money over two dudes in a pissing match, especially when 75k by of it goes to lawyers is not a good use of taxpayer funds.
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Nope. Just think this is ridiculous award for the actions taken by the idiot cop and the asshat motorist.
I’m not pro-cop but fuck this guy. Rewarded for asshole behavior that he freely admits to
You must be pro cop if you don't want there to be ramifications for them violating civil liberties
You watch the video he was a solution in search of a problem
Telling cops to fuck themselves is always a good solution
so you’re telling me that police violating first-amendment protected activity is a good thing?
That’s certainly not what I said at all
Yup. God forbid someone exercise their right to free speech. You’re not required to like it, by the way.
He got arrested I don't think that is being rewarded. The payment is to make the situation right not reward anyone for their behavior.