A retired law enforcement officer from Tennessee who spent more than five weeks in jail following his arrest over a social media post connected to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has reached an $835,000 settlement in his wrongful incarceration lawsuit against local authorities. Larry Bushart, 64, spent 37 days in pre-trial detention before prosecutors ultimately dropped all felony charges against him — a period of incarceration that cost him his part-time post-retirement job and forced him to miss the birth of his first grandchild.
Bushart’s arrest dates back to September 2024, when deputies from the Perry County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody hours after he shared a satirical meme in a public Facebook discussion thread about a community vigil honoring Kirk, who was fatally shot during an outdoor speaking engagement in Utah 10 days prior. The meme paired the partial line “We have to get over it” — a quote taken from former President Donald Trump’s 2024 message of condolence following a deadly school shooting in Perry, Iowa — with the caption “Seems relevant today.”
Local authorities claimed that area residents grew alarmed by the post because Tennessee’s Perry County is home to a public school that shares the same name as the Iowa school where the 2024 shooting occurred. Then-sheriff Nick Weems argued publicly after the arrest that investigators believed Bushart had intentionally posted the meme to stoke widespread fear and hysteria within the local community, charging him with threatening mass violence at a school. Unable to pay the exorbitant $2 million bail set by the court, Bushart remained behind bars for more than a month even as he maintained his post was protected free speech and never intended to incite harm.
After all charges were dismissed, Bushart filed a federal civil lawsuit against Perry County, Weems, and lead county investigator Jason Morrow, alleging the defendants had violated his First Amendment right to free expression and his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search, seizure, and unlawful detention. A jury trial was scheduled to begin in Memphis this coming July, before the two sides reached a settlement agreement that was announced publicly this week.
In a formal statement announcing the resolution of his case, Bushart said he was pleased that his First Amendment rights had ultimately been vindicated. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy,” the statement read. “I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.” The BBC has reached out to Perry County officials for additional comment on the settlement, but has not yet received a response.
Bushart is one of more than 30 Americans who faced some form of professional or public repercussion — ranging from widespread online harassment to termination from employment — for controversial social media comments made in the wake of Kirk’s killing. To date, he remains the only individual known to have been incarcerated for a social media post related to the high-profile killing, a fact that has drawn increased national attention to his case and broader debates over the balance between public safety and free speech rights in the digital age.