A St. Albans driver who was pulled over for giving a state trooper the middle finger is suing the Vermont State Police and the officer.
Gregory Bombard asserts in a lawsuit filed this week that he has a constitutional right to flip off police. Sgt. Jay Riggen pulled over Bombard for the hand gesture and charged him with disorderly conduct in 2018 in St. Albans. The charge was later dismissed.
Bombard, represented by the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and cooperating counsel Gary Sarachan, contends that the trooper abused his authority and violated his constitutional right to free speech. The lawsuit was filed in Washington County Superior civil court in Montpelier.
“Everyone understands what the middle finger means, so that it’s totally unreasonable for an officer to pull someone over just because of that,” Jay Diaz, a senior staff attorney for ACLU of Vermont, said Thursday.
“It just seemed like a completely unnecessary stop in the first place and unnecessary arrest after that,” Diaz said. “Here, it was done in retaliation for someone expressing their feelings to a public official.”
Diaz described Riggen’s actions during the encounter with Bombard as rude and confrontational, quickly escalating the situation.
Adam Silverman, a Vermont State Police spokesperson, said Thursday that since the matter involved pending litigation, it is “our practice to decline comment.”
VTDigger has sought the dash cam video of the incident, captured from Riggen’s cruiser, through the court and Vermont State Police, but as of late Thursday afternoon had been unable to obtain it.
Riggen was hired by Vermont State Police in 2006 and worked out of the St. Albans barracks. He was promoted to sergeant in February 2019 with the Traffic Safety Bureau based in Williston.
The lawsuit stems from an afternoon traffic stop Feb. 9, 2018, in St. Albans. Riggen signaled for Bombard to pull over because, according to the filing, the trooper believed that Bombard had given him the middle finger as he drove past his cruiser.
Bombard says he had not flipped off the trooper at that point, but Riggen “detained” him at the scene for additional questioning.
After that initial encounter, according to the filing, as Bombard was pulling away he cursed and displayed his middle finger as he was moving. Riggen then stopped Bombard again, the lawsuit stated, and ordered him out of his vehicle. He was then arrested for the misdemeanor offense of disorderly conduct.
Riggen ordered that Bombard’s car be towed, as he was held in custody for more than an hour before he was issued a citation to appear in criminal court to answer the misdemeanor charge, according to the lawsuit.
In a press release Riggen issued at the time of the incident, which included a mugshot of Bombard, the sergeant stated that Bombard yelled profanities and made an “exaggerated and continuous obscene hand gesture” as he drove on Main Street, all in the presence of a school bus and other people.
Bombard’s attorney had a different take on the events.
“They were on a public street; it was in winter,” Diaz said. “I’m pretty sure everyone had their windows rolled up. The officer was focused on the fact Greg used profanity in public, which is not tumultuous behavior, especially when it’s in protest of the action of a public official.”
Nicholas Hadden, Bombard’s lawyer in the criminal case, filed a motion to dismiss the disorderly conduct charge, contending that his client’s action had not risen to the level of tumultuous behavior and that the trooper had no legal reason for the initial stop.
Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes opposed that motion, arguing in a filing that, in viewing the evidence “in the light most favorable to the state,” the matter should be allowed to proceed to a trial for a jury to decide.
Judge Martin Maley denied the motion to dismiss the charge and, shortly thereafter, Hughes added a criminal charge against Bombard — another count of disorderly conduct, alleging he had obstructed traffic as he was moving back into the travel lane after the initial stop.
Hadden filed a motion to dismiss that charge as well, stating that a review of the sergeant’s dash cam video did not show that Bombard disrupted or blocked traffic.
“Indeed, when looking to see if traffic was coming around the police cruiser, defendant actually stopped to allow a vehicle to pass,” Hadden wrote. “He clearly had no intention of impeding traffic. The other vehicle did not come to a screeching halt. The other vehicle did not need to swerve.”
Maley dismissed the second disorderly conduct charge and agreed that the video did not show Bombard impeding motor vehicle or pedestrian traffic.
The first disorderly conduct charge remained pending, and a jury was set to be drawn to hear the case Jan. 8, 2018, but a docket entry for a final pretrial hearing the day before stated, “Case to be dismissed in about 10 days.”
On Jan. 18, 2018, court filings show the prosecutor dismissed the charge.
Hughes, reached Thursday afternoon, said that initial offer to settle the case with Bombard was for a $250 fine. However, he said, Bombard did not want a conviction so he contested the charge.
As the case neared trial, Riggen was transferred from the St. Albans barracks to a different post with state police farther away. That made it difficult for him to testify on the remaining misdemeanor count, Hughes said.
Hughes said he called the defense attorney and told him that he knew Bombard didn’t want a conviction. The prosecutor said he still believed Bombard needed “to learn a lesson,” so he would agree to drop the charge in exchange for a $250 donation to a charitable organization.
“He paid the $250 out of court instead of a fine, as a donation,” Hughes said, adding, “I didn’t want to spend any more time on the disorderly conduct and that was it.”
Hughes said he wouldn’t have brought the case if he didn’t believe that Riggen acted appropriately.
According to Hughes, Riggen reported he initially stopped Bombard because he believed he had given him the middle finger.
“He thought that was kind of a signal to attract his attention because there was something wrong,” Hughes said. When Riggen realized that wasn’t the case, Hughes said, he was letting Bombard go until the second incident took place, leading to the disorderly conduct charge.
Diaz said that, while he wasn’t aware of all the particulars about Bombard’s donation in the criminal case, he knows his client did not admit any wrongdoing.
“Regardless,” Diaz added, “the state’s attorney dismissed the case.”
Diaz said the case highlights the aggressive nature of police when it comes to traffic stops.
“It’s just emblematic of so many things we hear across the state of people being unnecessarily stopped, overly policed, and treated unjustly,” he said.
Diaz pointed to statistics from a recent study by University of Vermont researchers, “Trends in Racial Disparities in Vermont Traffic Stops, 2014-19.” Among the report’s findings was a high stop rate by police in Vermont, with about 255 drivers stopped per 1,000 residents, compared to a national average of 86 per 1,000.
In the lawsuit, Bombard is seeking unspecified damages for violating his free speech rights, illegal seizure, retaliation and false arrest.
Riggen’s actions, the filing stated, have “chilled and continue to chill” Bombard’s exercise of his rights to protest police actions and file his complaints to similar government officials.
“The resulting and ongoing chill of Mr. Bombard’s speech.” the lawsuit says, “has caused and continues to cause him to suffer damages.”
