Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018, according to the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021 by the ACLU of Vermont on behalf of Gregory Bombard of St. Albans, alleged that Bombard's First Amendment rights were violated during an unnecessary traffic stop and retaliatory arrest in 2018.