A Tennessee sheriff turned a recycled Trump meme into a supposed school threat, and the county just paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the man they locked up for posting it.
Story Snapshot
- A 61-year-old retired police officer spent 37 days in jail over a Facebook meme about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.[2][3]
- The meme quoted Donald Trump’s “we have to get over it” comment about a prior school shooting, with Bushart adding, “This seems relevant today…”[2][3]
- Authorities dropped the felony school-threat charge, then Tennessee officials agreed to an approximately $835,000–$850,000 settlement.[1][2][3][4]
- The sheriff admitted the meme referenced an Iowa school, yet still treated it as a local threat and claimed Bushart intended to create hysteria.[1][3]
How A Meme Turned Into A Felony And A Massive Payout
Larry Bushart did what millions of Americans do daily: he shared a meme. His post showed Donald Trump with the quote, “We have to get over it,” a line Trump reportedly used after a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, that left two dead and several injured.[2][3] Bushart, reacting to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, added his own caption: “This seems relevant today…”[2][3] No explicit threat, no date, no target, no weapons—just commentary, however dark.
Perry County residents saw “Perry High School” in the meme text and connected it to their own Perry County High School in Tennessee. Some became alarmed and contacted authorities.[1][3] Sheriff Nick Weems later acknowledged he understood the meme referenced the Iowa school, not the local one.[1][3] Yet his office still pursued Bushart as if he might attack the Tennessee school, leaning on the public’s fear as justification. Fear, not facts, became the core of the case.
The Arrest, The Bond, And Thirty-Seven Days Behind Bars
Deputies arrested Bushart in September after he refused to delete the memes joking about Kirk’s killing.[1][2][3] He was charged with threatening mass violence at a school, a serious felony. His bond was set at an eye-watering two million dollars.[1][2][3] For a retired cop with no alleged weapons cache, no plan, and a reposted meme, that sum did not look like cautious prudence; it looked like a message to anyone tempted to say the wrong thing online about the wrong political figure.
Bushart sat in jail for 37 days before prosecutors dropped the felony charge in October.[1][2][3][4] During that stretch, he lost his job and even missed the birth of his granddaughter.[4] Officials never produced evidence of an actual plan to attack a school. The sheriff publicly conceded that most of Bushart’s “hate memes” were lawful free speech, then simultaneously claimed investigators believed he “intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community.”[1][3] That contradiction captured the whole mess: speech they knew was legal, treated as criminal because it scared people.
From Criminal Defendant To First Amendment Plaintiff
Once freed, Bushart went on offense. He filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Perry County, the sheriff, and the investigator, arguing they violated his First Amendment rights by jailing him over protected speech.[4][5] The case drew national attention because of its stark facts: a retired officer, a meme, weeks in jail, a multi-million-dollar bond, and then a dropped charge. For many observers, the story looked less like genuine threat prevention and more like government punishment for speech that mocked a slain conservative figure.
A retired Tennessee cop who spent 37 days in jail over a Charlie Kirk meme has now secured an $835,000 settlement.
The felony charge was dropped months ago. Officials still agreed to pay after the lawsuit accused the county of violating his First Amendment rights.
Free speech… pic.twitter.com/GUHUompGF7
— USATodayFeed (@USATodayFeed) May 20, 2026
Tennessee officials eventually agreed to pay out a substantial settlement, reported as either $835,000 or $850,000 depending on the outlet.[1][2][3][4] The exact figure matters less than the signal: a small rural county effectively wrote a check for nearly a million dollars rather than defend the arrest in front of a jury. Settlements rarely include an admission of liability, and we do not have the agreement text. Still, governments do not pay that kind of money when they feel rock-solid about their conduct.
School Threats, Free Speech, And The Cost Of Panic
Law enforcement today faces intense pressure around schools. Every parent has Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Uvalde in the back of their mind. Every sheriff understands that if they ignore an online post and something happens, careers end and children die. That fear pushes agencies toward a “better safe than sorry” posture: if a meme even brushes against school violence imagery, treat it like a potential massacre, not gallows humor or political snark.
Yet American constitutional law draws a hard line between a “true threat” and offensive speech. A true threat must communicate a serious intent to commit unlawful violence, not just mention violence or echo someone else’s bad quote. Political hyperbole, satire, or even tasteless jokes sit on the protected side of that line. Bushart did not name the local school, did not describe a plan, and reposted a quote that the sheriff himself knew referred to Iowa.[1][3] On those facts, the government’s case looks thin.
Why This Case Should Matter To Ordinary Americans
Some will insist that jailing a man over a meme was justified because “you cannot be too careful with schools.” Others, especially those with conservative instincts about limited government, see something else: a small-town sheriff using felony charges and a staggering bond to crush speech that was ugly, but legal. When officials admit the speech is lawful yet still lock a man up for over a month, many Americans will call that exactly what it looks like—censorship with a badge.[1][3]
The Bushart settlement does not mean every threat case is bogus or that police should ignore ominous posts. It does, however, warn governments that fear cannot replace evidence, and feelings cannot override the First Amendment. When a reposted quote and a five-word caption can cost a man his job, his freedom, and 37 days of his life, something has drifted badly off course. The check Tennessee just wrote is not just for Bushart; it is a tuition bill for every official tempted to treat speech as a crime.
Sources:
[1] Web – Man jailed over Charlie Kirk Facebook post wins $835,000 settlement
[2] Web – Tennessee man jailed over Charlie Kirk Facebook meme gets $850 …
[3] Web – Retired police officer jailed for 37 days over Charlie Kirk post wins …
[4] YouTube – Man thrown in jail for 37 days over Charlie Kirk post wins …
[5] Web – Ex-Officer Sues Perry County Over Arrest for Charlie Kirk Meme
