By Armando Hernandez
Tennessee authorities agreed to pay $835,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Larry Bushart, a retired police officer who spent 37 days in jail after posting a satirical image on Facebook related to the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The case attracted national attention as it became one of the few episodes in the United States where comments posted on social media led to criminal proceedings.
Bushart, 61, was arrested in September 2025 and charged with “threatening mass violence at a school”after refusing to remove several publications considered offensive by local authorities.
Closing 300 and sixty five days, the police jailed Larry Bushart for 37 days on a $2M bond for posting a meme after Charlie Kirk’s slay.
With our relief, Larry sued Perry County, TN, and its sheriff for violating his rights in retaliation for his safe speech. He has got a $835K settlement. https://t.co/YBGidsPOp4 pic.twitter.com/91aamIiWlz
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) Would possibly perchance perchance moreover 20, 2026
The publication that triggered the arrest It showed a photograph of President Donald Trump accompanied by the phrase “We have to get over it,” a comment Trump made after a school shooting that occurred at Perry Excessive College, Iowa, in 2024. Bushart added the text: “This seems relevant today.”
However, some residents of Perry County, Tennessee, misinterpreted the meme as a threat against the local high school of the same name. Although the county sheriff, Cut Weems, later acknowledged that he knew the reference was to a school in Iowa, he maintained that Bushart “intentionally sought to create hysteria in the community.”
The former agent’s bail was set at $2 million, a figure that his lawyers described as excessive and violating his constitutional rights. Unable to pay it, Bushart spent more than five weeks in prison before prosecutors dropped the charges in October 2025.
During his imprisonmentBushart lost the job he held after retiring, in addition to missing his wedding anniversary and the birth of his granddaughter, as detailed in the lawsuit filed in December against Perry County, Sheriff Cut Weems and investigator Jason Morrow.
After the economic agreement was announced, Bushart declared: “I am pleased that my First Amendment rights have been vindicated. The freedom of people to participate in civic dialogue is fundamental to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving forward and spending time with my family.”
The former officer’s defense was supported by the organization Foundation for Private Person Rights and Expression (FIRE). Cary Davis, an attorney for the foundation, said the case represents a warning to law enforcement across the country.
“It is in times of upheaval and tension that our national commitment to freedom of expression is tested to the greatest extent. When government officials do not pass that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable,” he said.
Keep reading:
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- Melania Trump accuses host Jimmy Kimmel of “sowing hate” and asks ABC to take a position on the matter
- How the attacker could get so close to Trump and other questions raised by the shooting at the dinner correspondents
