Tennessee Law Officials Settle Claim They Arrested Man for Meme Over Fallen Officer

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A prosecutor and two Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents have settled a First Amendment lawsuit for $125,000, the plaintiff`s attorneys said Monday. The suit was filed by a man who said he was arrested over a disparaging social media post about a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty.

Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested in January 2021 after posting a meme depicting two people urinating on a gravestone with a photo of a Dickson County sheriff’s officer who was fatally shot in 2018 pasted into the image. Garton`s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville, saying their client`s First Amendment right to free speech was violated.

Garton’s post was captioned, “Just showing my respect to deputy Daniel Baker from the #dicksoncountypolicedepartment.”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the meme at the request of District Attorney Ray Crouch. Investigators determined the photo was taken from an album cover with a copy of Baker’s official work portrait “crudely” edited onto the grave, court documents show. Baker had been fatally shot in 2018 as he was investigating a suspicious vehicle.

Garton, 28 at the time of his arrest, was charged with harassment and jailed for nearly two weeks on a $76,000 bond until a Dickson County judge dismissed the charges. It was not reported how Garton was connected to the officer, or why he posted the meme.

“First Amendment retaliation is illegal, and law enforcement officials who arrest people for offending them will pay heavy consequences,” Garton`s lead counsel, Daniel Horwitz, said in a news release Monday. “Misbehaving government officials apologize with money, and Mr. Garton considers more than $10,000 per day that he was illegally incarcerated to be an acceptable apology.”

A court filing Monday by Garton`s attorneys notified the judge of the settlement and said the lawsuit should be dismissed. The $125,000 has been paid by Crouch and two TBI agents, according to The Tennessean newspaper.

A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson declined to comment. Crouch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Documents released under a public records request filed by Horwitz show investigators believed Garton`s social media post could be perceived as threatening or intimidating to Baker’s surviving relatives — even though he did not send it to them.

“The trolls will do what trolls do. It appears they and the lawyers forget that there are surviving family members who have rights as well,” TBI Director David Rausch said in a text conversation included in the records.

The lawsuit argued Garton was the victim of “false arrest and malicious prosecution” with authorities “incarcerating him for weeks and broadcasting his mugshot and the fact of his arrest to news media and the public in retaliation for disrespecting police.”

Photo: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch speaks during a January news conference in Memphis. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP, File)