Sheriff's deputies in Ohio didn't have probable cause to arrest a man for hurling vulgarities at them and wearing a t-shirt that said "fuck the police," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Tuesday.
The Sixth Circuit found Michael Wood had a First Amendment right to cuss out a gaggle of deputies who removed him from a county fair in 2016 after someone called 911 to complain about his shirt. The deputies also are not entitled to qualified immunity from Wood's suit, the Sixth Circuit ruled, because Wood's right to be free from arrest was clearly established by a long line of court opinions protecting obscene language directed at authorities.
