Authorities in Tennessee have reached a settlement of $125,000 in a First Amendment lawsuit, according to attorneys representing the plaintiff. The case was filed by Joshua Andrew Garton, who claimed he was arrested for posting a derogatory comment about a law enforcement officer who had died in the line of duty on social media.
Garton was taken into custody in January 2021 after sharing a meme that depicted two individuals urinating on a grave, with the image of a Dickson County sheriff’s officer, who was fatally shot in 2018, superimposed on it. The lawsuit, filed in Nashville, argued that Garton’s right to free speech under the First Amendment had been violated.
The caption accompanying Garton’s post read, “Just showing my respect to deputy Daniel Baker from the #dicksoncountypolicedepartment.”
District Attorney Ray Crouch requested the involvement of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which determined that the photo had been taken from an album cover and edited to include Baker’s official work portrait on the grave. Garton was charged with harassment and held in jail for almost two weeks on a $76,000 bond. However, the charges were later dismissed by a judge in Dickson County.
In a news release, Daniel Horwitz, Garton’s lead counsel, stated, “First Amendment retaliation is illegal, and law enforcement officials who arrest people for offending them will pay heavy consequences. Misbehaving government officials apologize with money, and Mr. Garton considers more than $10,000.00 per day that he was illegally incarcerated to be an acceptable apology.”
The settlement agreement, which was included in the news release, showed that Garton agreed to accept $125,000 from the state to resolve his claims against two officials from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and District Attorney Crouch. The agreement emphasized that the government defendants did not admit wrongdoing, liability, or concession by settling, but were seeking to avoid the costs and burdens of continuing the litigation.
Garton’s attorneys filed a court document notifying the judge of the settlement and requested the dismissal of the lawsuit.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson declined to comment, and District Attorney Crouch did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Documents obtained through a public records request revealed that investigators believed Garton’s social media post could be seen as threatening or intimidating to Baker’s surviving relatives, despite not being directly sent to them.
In the lawsuit, Garton argued that he was a victim of “false arrest and malicious prosecution,” with authorities incarcerating him for weeks and publicizing his mugshot and arrest details in retaliation for disrespecting the police.
