on February 9th 2018 a man named Gregory bomber was driving through the town of St Albin Vermont when he suddenly noticed a police car with stop lights flashing behind it Mr bomber immediately realized that the police officer was trying to pull him over and stopped the [Music] car [Applause] [Music] you need something you need something yeah no it look like you uh put me up and you're going by there like you went like this to me as I was driving by you you looking did you not do that no you might have thought stretching I was doing this okay so you didn't no okay you didn't intentionally do that then thought I to off yeah it look like looked right at me and looked like you stuck your middle finger up my face no no I was doing this yeah you must be really sensitive well I don't even make it personal you know I mean I you look right at me and if you were like a cigarette or you first of all I'm not an over sensitive person and it's the first time in 12 years I've ever stopped someone who I thought put me off so I don't like that insinuation you know what I'm saying in talking you want to make sure that you're all right yeah it's an unusual behavior it's unusual behavior you may not have been doing that but I think you can agree that if someone was looking for the attention of a trooper they're probably going to find it by giving them that type of negative do you agree with that now I don't now because I don't understand that so some if if somebody were to do that can we no that might not have been you can we agree if somebody did that for a TR they're obviously looking for their attention no I wasn't looking for your attention I I'm not I'm saying if someone did that I'm trying to put you in my mindset from what I was thinking for a moment now that I'm talking to you I realize that that maybe that wasn't the case right you don't TR me as someone who would do that I don't know that until I have a conversation with you agre that that I don't know you until I have okay so I have a question if someone took you off what is the citation what's the crime officer J of the Vermont State Police Stopped Mr bomber's car under suspicious circumstances officer J claimed that it was for a health check which is not a valid reason for a traffic stop in Vermont officers can stop a vehicle if they have a reasonable suspicion that something is wrong but it requires more than just a hunch it requires credible facts showing that a law was violated the problem here is that it is not clear what crime Mr bomber is suspected of committing officer rean claimed that Mr bomber had given him the finger but Mr bomber denied this question if someone putli you off what is the citation what's the crime so so if somebody somebody flicks me off yeah I don't know if they're sing to try to get my attention because they need new Assistance or they need to have a conversation CU obviously it's not normal behavior so I'm going to have that conversation right it's not normal I'm telling you out of thousands of public interactions I've never seen that at least didn't C my attention but it was so obvious what you did take a left here take your first left take a left and your first left so I'm won't take up any more of your time I'm going to like you're yep you're you're more than welcome to Super and a sh Barracks but I don't understand why like you saw I don't I was going by there and your middle finger was extended while you were looking at a well I I also see you had a cigarette in your hand so it's possible that you had one hand up your sing that would be consider so so actually so so you're more than welcome to so so here here's the issue is that it's although maybe PR much is so unusual that requires intervention make sure you time TR a signal L attention or something okay so it may be question but it crosses the line whereas it is so usual that requires intervention and I'm not I'm not going to delay any more than you two on listen sir once I realize that you weren't cing me off you're free to go understand you you don't now you don't realize I put you off once I realize you what if I did put you off having a conversation have about things to do then if I did off Mr bomber questions officer Ryan about the consequences of a gesture while driving citing the legal case Schwarz V andonia this Case established that such gestures do not justify a traffic stop or arrest it highlights first amendment protection of freedom of speech suggesting Mr bomber could file a complaint against officer Ryan for violating his [Applause] rights um fck as he pulled away he uh called me an [ __ ] and said [ __ ] you with the bird some going arrest him for thr the conduct there multiple people around there send me another unit to uh brainer Street in the city sound brainer and uh North please okay so so now you're underr conness get out of the car I'm under arrest early contact what did I do all the people there saying [ __ ] you and calling me an [ __ ] all the people there that's a crime s get out of the car you're under arrest how am I under arrest for your Earthly conduct I'm not going toate this with you please step out of the car you are under arrest St out of the car how was that disorderly conduct sir how was that a disorderly conduct although the first I just got up I'm having listen to me ask me a question although the first interaction may have been an error the second one certainly was not and while your window was down with your middle fingered you said f [ __ ] yelled it and then said [ __ ] you as you drove away and all that public there heard it and sign so that is his toally conduct 101 step out of the car step out of the car having problems I have a lot of step out of the car out the car you're going to beack from the officer Ryan pulled Mr bomber over a second time alleging disorderly conduct and arresting him under Vermont law however Mr bomber's use of curse words earlier didn't meet the legal criteria for disorderly conduct which involves Behavior causing public inconvenience or annoyance legal precedents like state of Washington vjj and a recent ruling by the US court of appeals for the eth circuit affirm individual's rights to criticize or confront police without facing arrest for disorderly conduct therefore Mr bomber's arrest was unlawful as he was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech how am I going step out of the car can I can I meet you at the Barrack no you canot the car you're under arrest can I call your supervis we'll be at the barracks when we get there step out of the car you're under arrest how am I under arrest step out of the car I'm going to make you but sir how can you explain to me how that is it's disorderly conduct it is tortous behavior of all the motor vehicle traffic there you cannot do that it's tort it's profane behavior in public step out of the car I'm loock the door step out of the car oh my God I can't believe this step out of the car your theory ofur walk back here oh my God it wasn't a problem until became problem you understand look put the hood on my hands on the hood oh my God hands on the hood come on I put your right hand behind your back oh my God sir I'll take I cannot believe this sir I cannot believe this the first one may have been there and the second one certainly was how is it disorderly contct I'm not being disorderly how is it causing disorderly now we can maybe agree or disagree but yelling [ __ ] and saying [ __ ] you with your hand out of the window in front of probably were dozens of people if not over a hundred people in very busy Main Street traffic and that's a toally conduct 101 that person thing may have been an error but after that it certainly wasn't but now I'm wondering but now I'm wondering if maybe you actually did do that as I thought you originally did because only somebody who then would have the the audacity finger you may let me speak now someone has the audacity to do that someone has yeah d i I've made thousands and thousands of I don't remember any time I've ever seen someone consciously put me the bir so now now I'm now I'm convinced that you did but that behavior you actually get the end of the stuff okay so under arrest and that's the end of the story I don't know what to do here so I what we we going to do is just be compliant I am but I'm not going to answer my questions I guess I'm not I'm I'm worried about my car I'm not intending you to I'm not to ask me the questions I'm worried about my cars they Jeff stay in there you're kidding me I cannot believe this 24 21 23 everything in here it's going to poke anything I have any gloves on no can you please can I please go no nope I sh that ship sailed oh my God I can't believe oh my God I'm almost set now so what happens with my car well says no parking ins side of the street so it's going to get where get to I'll give you a record of your preference come back over there can I get M personal bag I can grab it for you but you can't grab it you understand you've been arrested right so you don't just you you don't just get to drag around your car now right I mean you can't take you been arrested to your in custody all right whatever oh my Lord I think we can GRE your behavior is ridiculous 99 out of 100 people who I thought that did that in the original stop if it was an honest mistake they'd be like I don't know what you're talking about I apologize for any error any dve on do what you did which makes me think that you did do it now I'm not going to answer any more questions sir can you please which which one is TI I don't whatever just can you loosen it a little you have some compassion so I absolutely so I can I can put my thumb in there so the issue is if I loosen it too much is going to ride up against your your wrist bone so I'll loosen a little bit but if it get too loose it's going to start grinding all right just bring me wherever you got to bring me got C refill this is ridiculous I'm going to loosen these I don't they're going to be uncomfortable I don't want them to be painful so I'm loen a little bit officer Ryan violated Mr bomber's rights under the US Constitution Vermont's rules require a valid reason reason for arrest without a warrant but Mr bomber wasn't doing anything wrong when searched and handcuffed unlawfully this breaches Mr bomber's Fourth Amendment rights against unjust searches and seizures officer Regan's attempt to manipulate Mr bomber by accusing him of non-criminal gestures shows misconduct additionally Mr bomber's silence is protected by the Fifth Amendment meaning he isn't obliged to incriminate himself okay is that a little better yeah it's fine yeah how okay or you need more it's fine sir yeah it's fine you me anything out of the car it a cell phone can I get my yeah can I get my cell phone in my personal bag please it's on the front seat yeah yeah yeah I'm going back up a little bit [Music] that's home way to do it um I drove by him and I saw his middle finger ended at me really want have have a conversation with him like you need what's going on you need help right I mean to totally unusual behavior what's going on Den I'm doing it so I said okay maybe you didn't do it and then he absolutely did it obviously to the car before he left he out the window yelled [ __ ] said [ __ ] you and put me off in front of 100 people great I will meet you outrage with this okay we going want to give him the preference no I'm giv him the preference um ask we're going back to you have a preference for a tow truck no all right I'm take people off don't get you out [Applause] car show like you really sure this is no oh really okay so I just saw the name I just saw the name when I was coming in thing that it is supremely unusual to do that abely worth a intervention for a moment to assess mental health other type of uh crisis going on okay what's going on once you say okay either I made a mistake or there something going on you want to talk about off you go IDE decide to go for absolutely no problem here off DC y what's up [Applause] out [Applause] right think a into the cell here well I'm going to get your paperwork and I'll come back and get you so when I take this right hand off from top of your head you understand that go ahead you understand your right arm is going right hand going on your head you understand that okay put your right hand heard [Music] me when you're release we'll get to all your how long is it going to take I I don't know we l but you're going to be here for at least a half hour okay and can I speak to a supervisor or your station Commander or so Trooper bruy is the trooper in charge right now station Commander but he's not here I can let him know that you're looking to talk to him when he's available but bruy I'm pretty much a senior gu okay so can you explain to me again you're arresting me for disorderly conduct okay and this the disorderly conduct was giving you a finger and thing [ __ ] you so we a window open in front of all those people you yelled [ __ ] said [ __ ] you and held your little finger out the windows you drove away so that happen and frankly and now that I've gotten to know you a little better the initial interaction which Dre and ient you in the first place you absolutely suck a middle finger up as you drove by me that did happen and and you if you walk listen you're asking me questions I'm not going to ask you questions you're not custody and you're not going to anyway I'm not Miranda we're just talking explaining your situation you're free to disagree about everything else has gone on here but when someone drives by INF flicts a middle finger at a police officer one can argue that's freedom of expression one can also argue that it's so supremely unusual to do that that it absolutely mandates intervention to say you need assistance are a mental laugh some kind of intervention immediately I I do you giving you the fing it's so unusual it's so unusual and so when I st didn't I do you I want to acertain what's going on do you need something for me that you would do that you want my attention because you certainly got my attention so you had it and then he said you denied it although now I absolutely know that you did it was so obvious and then I didn't I do I said okay you know what you want to get your kind of flesh out of me we're holding up traffic you're free to go didn't detain you any longer needed to you were okay so I you went and then though then you committed a crime by using profanity twice with the profane gesture in front of what was probably absolutely no less than 100 people on a very crowded Street that's completely improper and fact 100 people dozens and dozens if not over 100 so those cars that were um parallel to us you saw there was hundred cars there were absolutely dozens of people who saw the interaction both behind me in front of you and all along theide were stopped there as you were clear absolutely okay so so we're done so I see now if you stop asking questions you get your pound of fles out of me you've been arrested you don't need to interact anymore except for just administrative business so I want to let you to sit here and about one more question um I'm going to want to request the body Cam that you have bodys I thought you guys were body cams C we we have cameras in our cars T what's in front of us we don't have bodys on oh okay you have audio Yeah audio we walk up to the car there's a on us okay what we're saying the car will be record in our car okay so when you U passed me I was going this way you're going this way can I request your dash cam video of that anything that picked up you can request any okay okay so yeah I just want to know if I can do that okay right okay um so okay so I'm going to be half an hour when am I going to get a citation yeah probably we're run in front ofy Okay Okay mention it to the state's attorney that I am going to contact the ACLU the American civil liberties Union I'm going to file lawu been a long time man this all the time you can file anything you want that's absolutely fine okay I'm going to file complaints I'm file law against against you sure because I feel you violated my um constitutional right just mention that to him after being taken to the station and booked reports surface that the local prosecutor tried to charge Mr bomber twice with disorderly conduct both charges were dismissed but the case dragged on for nearly a year Mr bomber's car was towed for being parked in a No Parking Zone and his mug shot was circulated by the state police with representation from the American civil liberties Union of Vermont Mr bomber filed a lawsuit against officer rean and the state of Vermont in 2021 you can find the case File and a link to the original video in the description take care and stay safe