A Florida man was arrested for displaying an obscene bumper sticker on the back of his truck, one that either expressed his sexual preferences, or his love for a four-legged animal.
After Dillon Shane Webb was told the sticker was “derogatory,” he claimed his freedom of expression was violated, and the deputy’s office asked if he was using his free speech to express his desire of “eating a donkey.”
Keep reading to learn why Webb was arrested over a bumper sticker!
In 2019, a Columbia County sheriff’s deputy was driving behind a pickup truck when he noticed a vulgar sticker plastered on the middle of the rear window.
Dashcam footage shows Deputy Travis English stopping his cruiser in a parking lot behind the brown pickup, operated by Dillon Shane Webb, 23, with the bumper sticker in clear view.
The letters on the sticker – printed in bold white – reads, “I EAT A**.”
In the video, the deputy approaches the passenger side of the truck and after saying, “hello gentleman,” he explains that he pulled the car over due to “the derogatory sticker” displayed on the back of his truck.
In Florida, law prohibits “any sticker, decal emblem or other device attached to a motor vehicle containing obscene descriptions, photographs or depictions.”
“How’s it derogatory?” Webb asks from inside the car.
The officer replies, “How’s it not derogatory?”
“Some 10-year-old kid sitting in the passenger seat of his momma’s vehicle looks over and sees ‘I eat a**’ and asks his mom what it means,” English says. “How is she going to explain that?”
Sniping back, the driver provides the wrong answer: “That’s the parent’s job, not my job,” Webb says before he’s asked to present his driver’s license and registration.
After stepping out of the vehicle, Webb is searched, and the deputy tells him the sticker is a “misdemeanor violation of Florida’s obscene materials law.”
“I have four kids…if my 6-year-old was to look at me and like, ‘dad what does I eat a** mean?…he’s curious…and the way [you] handled this situation, I’m not pleased with,” English said before offering Webb the opportunity to explain his sticker to the court system.
Next, the deputy suggests Webb remove one of the letters from the word “A**” to read “AS.” But Webb refused, citing his constitutional right to free speech.
A few minutes later, things take a nasty turn for Webb.
After confirming with his supervisor that he had reasonable rights within the law, English steps out of his cruiser and approaches Webb, who’s leaning against his car, looking at his cellphone.
“All right Mr. Webb. Place your hands behind your back,” Webb is told. When he asks “why?” he learns “because you’re going to jail.”
Asking “for what?” English explains that he was given “the option to take that off” the window, but he “refused.”
He was then arrested and charged with the additional offense of “resisting an officer without violence.”
‘Perverted mind’
“They’re just words,” Webb later told First Coast News. “If that’s how they feel, if they have a perverted mind, that’s on them.”
But according to Sergeant Murray Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, it wasn’t just the words on the sticker that Deputy English determined was illegal.
“It was the obscene phrase depicting what the deputy thought was a sexual act, which is obscene by definition,” said Smith. “What would a reasonable citizen think? Is the guy eating a donkey or is he doing a sexual act?”
The incident captured the attention of a lot of social media users, the majority who defended Webb.
“So what if he eats donkey. What’s the big deal?” asks one netizen. Another, referring to English speaking of his child’s potential reaction to the sticker, says, “Since when are a cop’s feelings deserving of an arrest?”
“I live here and as soon as we heard he got arrested we all went and got the sticker and put it on [our] trucks,” pens a third.
Another adds, “He better keep his kids off the internet. They will see far worse than this.”
The State Attorney’s Office cited the First Amendment and the charges against Webb were dropped. Later, Webb sued for alleged violations of his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard of the Middle District of Florida ruled that the arrest was “arguably justified under Florida’s obscenity law,” giving the officer and his supervisor “qualified immunity,” which means they are protected from the lawsuit.
This case underscores the ongoing debate in the U.S. over free speech and its boundaries, especially around expressions some might find offensive or derogatory. It also reflects how the First Amendment remains a contentious issue, with some insisting their right to free expression is under threat, while others argue for consideration that certain messages will have on the population.
What are your thoughts on this story? Please share your thoughts with us and then share it with your friends so we can get the conversation going!
JUST IN : Steamy rumors for Sean Hannity dating Fellow Fox News Host – Here is the truth
It’s been a whiIe since we reported that Fox News host Sean Hannity was divorcing his wife Jill Rhodes, who he had been married to for over twenty years.
Now, steamy rumors have been swirling that he is dating “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt, and while they won’t confirm it, they aren’t denying it either. Page Six reported that the rumors have spread Iike wildfire ever since Hannity, 58, and Earhardt, 43, were seen together during lockdown near his home on Long Island, New York. Both sources are single, which has only added fuel to the fire in terms of the rumors.
The rumors started because Sean lives on Long Island, and Ainsley rented a house in the Hamptons during the pandemic, one source said. Sean has a studio at his home, and Ainsley has been using his studio as her remote broadcast Iocation for ‘Fox & Friends.
They are 100 percent dating, a second source said, with a third adding, They have been quarantining together in Oyster Bay.
They have been seen together in the area. Both Hannity and Earhardt released statements through the same Fox News spokesperson in which they refused to confirm the rumors. I do not discuss my personal Iife in public, Hannity said, with Earhardt saying in her statement, “Right now I am focused on raising my daughter. As anyone at Fox News will tell you, Sean is a wonderful person and whomever he chooses to date will be extremely fortunate.
I am not dating anyone, she added in a follow-up statement. Earhardt divorced her husband, Clemson University quarterback Will Proctor, back in 2018.
Together, they are parents to a 4 year-old daughter named Hayden. Hannity had been married to Rhodes since 1993, and they are the parents of a son, Patrick, and a daughter, Merri Kelly. Though their divorced was onIy just confirmed, friends say they had actually been divorced for over a year. Sean and Jill are committed to working together for the best interests of their children. Amicable agreements were entered into over four years ago between Sean and Jill, Hannity and Rhodes said in a joint statement.
They maintain a close reIationship as parents to their children. Neither will have any further comments and ask for the sake of their children that their privacy be respected.
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