Court affirms man’s right to write swear words on speeding ticket

Willian Barboza (New York Civil Liberties Union)

A US judge has ruled a man's civil rights were violated when he was arrested for scrawling “F*** your s****y town b****es” on a speeding ticket.

Willian Barboza’s civil rights were violated when he was prosecuted after writing the message on a ticket he received in 2012, a Connecticut federal judge ruled.

Barboza's arrest "violated his clearly established constitutional right to engage in and be free from arrests because of protected speech," Judge Cathy Seibel said at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in White Plains, adding that Barboza "suffered a deprivation of his First Amendment rights when he was arrested under colour of law," according to the New York Times.

Barboza's defaced ticket Barboza was driving through the town of Liberty when he was given the speeding ticket.

He crossed out “Liberty” on the payment form, replacing it with “Tyranny”, before scrawling the sweary phrase across the top of the ticket.

His payment was refused and he was given a lecture in court over his use of foul language, before being arrested on a charge of aggravated harassment.

Later, Barboza filed a lawsuit against the town of Liberty, alleging his arrest had violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

Judge Seibel ruled that what Barboza wrote, "though crude and offensive to some, did not convey an imminent threat and was made in the context of complaining about government activity," and as such did not violate the state’s aggravated harassment statute.

"The words here are not inherently likely to provoke violent reaction, they were not directed at anyone in particular, and could not be interpreted as threatening any particular action," the Huffington Post reports Seibel as saying.

The judge stated assistant district attorney Robert Zangla is liable for damages, but that the two police officers who arrested Barboza are not, because Zangla instructed them to make the arrest.

Seibel also ruled Liberty will have to stand trial for failing to train its police officers regarding the country’s First Amendment.