Driver won’t obey judge’s order to apologize for his command to police officer
First Amendment
Driver won’t obey judge’s order to apologize for his command to police officer
May 16, 2024, 12:29 pm CDT
An Alabama man ticketed for speeding acknowledges telling the police officer standing in front of his car to “get your ass out of the way.” But he is refusing to obey a judge’s order to write an apology letter. (Image from Shutterstock)
An Alabama man ticketed for speeding acknowledges telling the police officer standing in front of his car to “get your ass out of the way.” But he is refusing to obey a judge’s order to write an apology letter.
Judge Nicholas Bull of the Ozark Municipal Court in Alabama said in his order Reginald Burks faces a sentence of 10 to 30 days in jail if he refuses to apologize.
Burks, who lives in Skipperville, Alabama, has already paid more than $200 to resolve the speeding ticket. He expects to be jailed after his next hearing June 4.
AL.com, NBC News and WTVY (here and here) covered the controversy.
Burks said a police officer pulled him over Dec. 13 when he was driving his two children to school. The police officer told Burks that he had exceeded the speed limit.
When Burks asked how fast he was going, the officer said he wasn’t sure because his radar gun was broken. He instead used his cruise control to estimate Burks’ speed.
“I told him he was full of crap because there’s no way that he clocked my speed by cruise control,” Burks told AL.com.
Burks said the officer stood in front of Burks’ car after issuing the speeding ticket.
“He was standing there and wouldn’t move,” Burks told NBC News. He asked the officer “politely at least twice” to get out of the way, but the officer told Burks to go around him.
In the NBC News interview, Burks said he told the officer: “Get your ass out of the way, so I can take my kids to school. That’s why y’all underpaid because y’all act dumb.”
Burks’ lawyer, David Harrison, said Bull’s order violates Burks’ right to free speech under the First Amendment. He also told NBC News that the system “is not equal for African Americans and white people.”
Burks is Black. The police officer and Bull are white.
Jenny Carroll, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, told NBC News that the word “ass” is not an obscenity as defined by the Federal Communications Commission.
“The charged offense was the speeding, not anything to do with the profanity,” Carroll told NBC News. “So not only is the judge punishing a crime for which the individual is not charged, but beyond that, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a person who would say 30 days seems like an appropriate sentence in jail for somebody who uttered the word ‘ass’ in frustration.”
Burks told NBC News that if anyone deserves an apology, it’s him and his children.
“Because they got a tardy in school,” he explained.
