You know something’s wrong with the government when innocent people are getting arrested over memes. And for 61-year-old Larry Bushart of Lexington, Tennessee, he wasn’t even the creator of a certain meme; he simply posted it on Facebook around the time Charlie Kirk was shot. Bushart’s meme, posted to Facebook, was calling out Trump for making a big deal about Kirk’s death but acting like a school shooting was less noteworthy. Well, Bushart’s been fortunately released, but there’s more to unpack here, and it’s not pretty.
First, Bushart lost his job as a medical driver during his time in jail for 37 days. Getting a decent job in the current economy is not easy, let alone surviving with all the madness going on with insurance and prices of food and basic goods. Hopefully, the Tennessee man will find another job soon, but NewsChannel 5 reveals some shady things about the investigation for Bushart’s arrest. During an interview with a news anchor, Sheriff Nick Weems admits that he knew Bushart was not a threat but authorized the arrest anyway. His argument was that the “public didn’t know” that he didn’t mean any harm with his meme.
Footage shared by the police department even reveals that the officer sent out to confront Bushart didn’t even know what was going on. From the police cam recording, it was clear there was no reason for the 61-year-old to be detained, yet the arrest was forced to go through regardless. In other words, the Lexington messed up, really bad. “Now comes the lawsuit,” remarks a commenter, with thousands of others calling for Bushart to sue the state over what happened. One person sums up the awful situation perfectly:
“$2 million bail. For posting a meme. Not even an offensive meme. Jailed for a month. Presumed guilty and treated like it. Fired from his job. Name dragged through the mud.”
It would only be natural at this point for Bushart to pursue a lawsuit, and hopefully, he does.
