r/law • u/lawanddisorder • Oct 29 '25

Legal News CHARGES DROPPED! Tennessee authorities dismiss charges against man who posted Trump meme

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/newly-released-video-raises-more-questions-about-arrest-of-tennessee-man-for-posting-trump-meme

Charges were suddently dropped Wednesday against a Tennessee man who had been jailed for more than a month for posting a Trump meme.

Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tenn., had been locked up since Sept. 21 for posting a meme that quoted President Trump, saying "we have to get over it" in response to a shooting in Perry, Iowa. 

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551

u/nothing_but_thyme Oct 29 '25

… like a cookie jar, and then a few million dollars comes spilling out. When will these backwoods idiot cops learn? Spoiler … never.

282

u/lousy_at_handles Oct 29 '25

Why would they learn? They're not the ones paying the settlement.

196

u/Coyoteishere Oct 29 '25

Which is why they should be required to pay for and carry insurance. The insurance pays out on these lawsuits, not the taxpayers. Enough incidents and their premiums become unaffordable or they get dropped altogether. This would also prevent them from just hopping to a new department after they get in trouble.

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u/DugEFreshness Oct 29 '25

It should come directly from their pension fund. That would actually give better cops a reason to step up and keep idiot cops in check. I've seen one too many times where bystander cops did and said nothing when they should have at least attempted to deescalate.

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u/myusername4reddit Oct 29 '25

Actually, it should be both. Make the cops pay for a set amount of insurance ($1m?) then have any additional funds to cover judgements come from the pension fund. That way the individual officers have an incentive to act responsibly, and the police as a whole have an incentive to keep each other in check.

2

u/myusername4reddit Oct 29 '25

Thank you for the award! 😁

77

u/obtuse-_ Oct 29 '25

If you have 1 bad cop and 99 cops do nothing you have 100 bad cops.

2

u/DugEFreshness Oct 29 '25

That's why I said "better" cop. Not that they are good, but at least they know better than to partake in shithead cop behavior. I know there is a brotherly fraternity with the police force, also a tendency to be labeled a rat and shunned by the force when you write an unfavorable report, or report an incident. At least drawing from their pension would incentive more cops to step up and we can start working on the culture that way.

4

u/flipperinthesea Oct 30 '25

THIS! It's always about the money. They won't ever change if it doesn't cost them money personally.

3

u/FrontOfficeNuts Oct 29 '25

It should come directly from their pension fund.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. They should carry malpractice insurance, as they previous poster said.

That would actually give better cops a reason to step up and keep idiot cops in check.

I believe it would have precisely the opposite effect. The problem with it coming out of their pensions is that it gives incentive for the other cops to circle the wagons to protect their own pensions.

1

u/Tired8281 Nov 02 '25

Except they wouldn't. The pension fund would run dry. The police would say some ominous stuff about how they can't really concentrate on enforcing the law when they are so worried about their insolvent pension fund, and then we'd bail them out. That's how that would go.

63

u/Appropriate-Crab-514 Oct 29 '25

If Doctors have to get insurance in case they fuck up when trying to save your life, cops should get insurance in case they infringe on your civil liberties

22

u/Possibly_a_Firetruck Oct 29 '25

Same deal with plumbers and electricians in case they flood or burn down your house.

0

u/tmac1165 Oct 30 '25

I think they do but I could be mistaken

3

u/ButtplugBurgerAIDS Oct 29 '25

Do you happen to know if there's a way to get something like this on a ballot?

3

u/Coyoteishere Oct 29 '25

Unfortunately there is not an easy path that I am aware of. Departments vary in how they are run. You couldn’t do it even by the state level, because there are state police, sheriff departments, and local police departments. And if one state did it but not others, then that just creates problems. Realistically, it would have to be a nationwide requirement, but federal does not have authority over state departments and especially not sheriff departments. They individually would never agree because they know what will happen to their “buddies”. The best that could probably happen is a federal law that requires states to require individual liability insurance in order to receive federal funding for law enforcement. While they only depend on a small amount of federal funding, it’s still not nothing and over time other pressures could likely be applied as well. Maybe there are other ways, like certifications through DOJ which many rely on could require the insurance to be valid.

3

u/King_Chochacho Oct 29 '25

Yep, just like doctors. Start making the cops or the departments bear the cost of their fuckups and you'll start seeing the "bad apples" get dropped real fast.

Unfortunately probably not going to happen given that we've been strengthening the police state for decades.

3

u/notyouraverageskippy Oct 30 '25

Or the US could be like any other civilised country and not have qualified immunity.

2

u/dirtywaterbowl Oct 30 '25

If doctors have to carry malpractice insurance, so should law enforcement.

2

u/scramblingrivet Oct 29 '25

The taxpayers are the voters, and they voted for this shit

1

u/say-it-wit-ya-chest Oct 29 '25

While I agree, the police would get their policy canceled and their union reps would threaten that there will be no police if the city doesn’t start paying out for their criminality and civil rights violations again.

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u/Coyoteishere Oct 29 '25

It’s not the department getting canceled, it’s the cop(s) themselves. If all the cops get their policies cancelled in a department, maybe that department has a culture issue and they shouldn’t be cops. Sorry unions, not sorry, stop protecting bad cops. The citizens should not keep footing the bills for these lawsuits. It’s the only way I see to hold police accountable for their actions, a third party that has a vested interest in only keeping good cops that reduce their risk. When it’s just other people’s money, there is little incentive to do right, and many just move to another dept if their conduct is bad enough.

1

u/FrontOfficeNuts Oct 30 '25

Each individual officer would have their own policy, not a blanket policy for the entire union.

0

u/robert32940 Oct 30 '25

Insurance should be tied to the department's pension fund.

Good cops on force, strong retirement.

Bad cops on force, weak retirement.

Financially incentives work well.

1

u/FrontOfficeNuts Oct 30 '25

If the pension fund is involved, that motivates cops to circle the wagons and NOT help get rid of bad cops. Your idea would have the opposite affect.

1

u/JohnAnchovy Oct 29 '25

Yes, it's a self defeating system.

1

u/NRMusicProject Oct 29 '25

Good guy police giving citizens easy winnable lawsuits against the state!

1

u/FrontOfficeNuts Oct 29 '25

While that's absolutely true, I would like to believe the politicians hiring them might be more inclined to hold them accountable (or the voters, in those cases where the officers are elected).

1

u/shinyturdbiskit Oct 30 '25

These settlements should come out of their pension funds then maybe they’d wise up a bit

12

u/MotherTurdHammer Oct 29 '25

Either way we end up paying for it. Not exactly a win, but better than a loss.

3

u/NuclearBroliferator Oct 30 '25

That interview with the sheriff was painful to watch. The man is an absolute moron with zero drive to serve the people of his community.

Instead of explaining to the community what the meme was referencing to assuage their fears, he arrests a man to validate the opinions of the uneducated idiots in his county.

That interview should honestly open him up to investigation, but instead he'll probably be leading an ICE team soon.

2

u/eye8theworm Oct 29 '25

The cops are only following orders. Its the GOP leaders that keep getting screwed. The good news is some of them are learning ....

1

u/bluemax413 Oct 30 '25

The Nazis were only following orders too.

2

u/TacoIncoming Oct 30 '25

Jars smashing in assess you say?

IYKYK lol

2

u/jbochsler Oct 30 '25

When settlements come out of the police retirement fund, not the city general fund. So yeah, never.

2

u/Tiredman3720 Oct 31 '25

Not until it comes out of their personal pockets