Ok, this is fucking stupid!!! Free speech be damned, taking someone to court over something like this? Like the courts aren't backed up enough with crap that could be settled by mature adults.
A Pennsylvania man has filed a federal lawsuit defending his God-given right to flip the bird at roadside construction workers.
Thomas Burns was sitting in traffic last April when he got so frustrated by the delay that he gave a pack of DOT workers the finger.
The construction workers had, presumably, never been flipped the bird before -- because they were so frightened and offended by this incredibly common gesture that they called a policeman.
The police officer, Samuel Johns, pulled over Mr. Burns and cited him for disorderly conduct.
The ticket was supposed to arrive in the mail, but Burns said it never did. Instead, what arrived was a constable who showed up at his house to arrest him for failing to appear at a July hearing.
The hearing was rescheduled for October. When neither Johns nor Burns went to court that day, the charges were dropped.
That didn't stop Burns from filing a suit yesterday against Johns and the township where he was ticketed. Burns said his constitutional rights had been violated and he had been maliciously prosecuted.
The First Amendment affirms the right to free speech, while the Fourth protects against unreasonable search and seizure. The little-know 28th Amendment gives all Americans the right to quote "Freebird" at will, with impunity.
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