He spent 37 days in jail for a Facebook post — now FIRE has his back

A 61-year-old Tennessee man is finally free after spending a shocking 37 days in jail — all for posting a meme. 

Retired police officer Larry Bushart told a local radio station he’s “very happy to be going home” after his nightmarish ordeal. 

But for Larry and FIRE, the fight isn’t over.

In September, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Larry shared a meme on a Facebook thread about a vigil in Perry County, Tennessee. The meme quoted President Donald Trump saying, “We have to get over it” following a January 2024 school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. The meme included the commentary, “This seems relevant today …”

Just after 11 p.m. on Sept. 21, four officers came to Larry’s home, handcuffed him, and took him to jail. He was locked up for “threatening mass violence at a school.” His bond — an astronomical $2 million! 

Police justified the arrest by saying that people took the meme as a threat to their high school, which has a similar name to the one where the school shooting occurred 20 months earlier. However, police have been unable to produce any evidence that members of the public took the meme as a threat. As The Intercept noted: “There were no public signs of this hysteria. Nor was there much evidence of an investigation—or any efforts to warn county schools.”

Larry was jailed for more than five weeks. But that wasn’t the only thing he suffered. During that time, he lost his post-retirement job doing medical transportation and missed the birth of his granddaughter.

Prosecutors finally dropped the charges — only after the arrest went viral. Now a newly freed Larry, who spent over three decades with law enforcement and the Tennessee Department of Correction, is preparing to sue.

“A free country does not dispatch police in the dead of night to pull people from their homes because a sheriff objects to their social media posts,” FIRE’s Adam Steinbaugh told The Washington Post. Now, FIRE is representing Larry to defend his rights — and yours.

A meme doesn’t become a threat just because a sheriff says it is. In America, there are very few exceptions to the First Amendment, including true threats or incitement of imminent lawless action. 

Jailing first, justifying later, flips those limits on their head. If officials can arrest you because they dislike your social media posts, then none of us are safe to express ourselves.

Stay tuned for updates.