Man Who Mocked Kirk’s Death Wins MASSIVE $850K Case

A Tennessee sheriff turned a recycled Trump meme into a supposed school threat, spent 37 days locking up a retired cop over it, and his county just paid close to a million dollars for the mistake.

Story Snapshot

A 61-year-old retired police officer was jailed for over a month because he refused to delete a Facebook meme about Charlie Kirk’s assassination ^[2]^[3]
The meme reused a Donald Trump quote about a prior school shooting in Iowa, not any explicit threat against a Tennessee school ^[1]^[2]^[3]
Authorities dropped the felony “school threat” charge, and Tennessee officials later agreed to an estimated $835,000–$850,000 settlement ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]
The clash exposes how fear-driven policing of online speech collides with the First Amendment and basic common sense ^[2]^[3]

How A Meme About Charlie Kirk Turned Into A Felony Arrest

61-year-old Larry Bushart, a retired police officer from Tennessee, did what millions of Americans do every day: he shared a meme on Facebook.^[2]^[3] The image showed President Donald Trump with the words, “We have to get over it,” a quote Trump reportedly used after a 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa.^[1]^[2]^[3] Bushart’s caption, “This seems relevant today…,” came shortly after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking to college students.^[2]^[3] The post criticized political priorities; it did not announce any plan of violence.

Perry County residents saw the meme, noticed their own Perry County High School shared the “Perry” name, and some panicked.^[3]^[6] Sheriff Nick Weems later said that most of Bushart’s “hate memes” about Kirk’s death were “lawful free speech,” but that this one school-related meme triggered public fear.^[1]^[3]^[6] Despite acknowledging he knew the meme referred to an Iowa shooting, not Tennessee, Weems pursued a felony charge for threatening mass violence at a school.^[1]^[3]^[6] Bushart’s bond was set at an eye-watering $2 million.^[2]^[3]

Inside The 37 Days That Cost The County Hundreds Of Thousands

Authorities booked Bushart into the Perry County jail, where he sat for 37 days while prosecutors and investigators treated his Facebook post like a credible school massacre threat.^[2]^[3]^[4] Reports indicate the arrest warrant leaned on the theory that his caption could be interpreted as a call for mass violence, even though the text itself referenced a past tragedy and political reactions.^[6] During that time, Bushart missed family milestones, including the birth of a granddaughter, and lost ordinary life that cannot be refunded by any payout.^[1]

Sheriff Weems’ story evolved as scrutiny grew. He conceded publicly that the meme did not lead investigators to believe Bushart actually planned to attack a school; instead, he argued that “some people” might read it that way.^[3]^[6] That shift matters. Law enforcement has a duty to investigate potential threats—but there is a constitutional difference between investigating a post and jailing its author for weeks because someone else misreads political commentary as a promise of violence. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the felony charge in October.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

The Lawsuit, The Payout, And What It Really Says About Free Speech

Once free, Bushart went on offense. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Perry County, Sheriff Weems, and others, alleging that jailing him over a meme violated his First Amendment rights and his protection from unreasonable seizure.^[1]^[5] Multiple outlets describe him as a retired law enforcement officer, someone who knows the difference between edgy speech and a prosecutable threat.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] That background likely strengthened his credibility when he told a judge he never intended any violence, only criticism.

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 settle. LiveNow Fox, CBS News, and local television reports placed the settlement at $835,000, while a Fox News report rounded it to $850,000.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] No public document shows the county formally admitting guilt, but government entities do not cut checks of that size because they feel completely confident. Bushart framed the outcome bluntly: he said he was pleased that his First Amendment rights were vindicated.^[1]^[3] The message to other sheriffs is clear—treat political memes like terrorism, and your taxpayers will pay for it.

When Fear Of School Violence Collides With Conservative Principles

School shootings create understandable terror, and no conservative with children in a classroom wants law enforcement to shrug off real threats. The problem arises when officials treat ambiguous online speech as criminal because doing nothing feels risky to their careers. After Columbine and Parkland, too many agencies think the safest move for them is the harshest move against the speaker. That instinct may protect bureaucrats, but it erodes the constitutional culture that protects everyone else.

American conservative values start from limited government, due process, and a fierce commitment to free political speech—even when that speech mocks a fallen ally like Charlie Kirk. If a sheriff can cage a retired cop for 37 days over a meme that he himself admits is “lawful free speech” and not a genuine threat, then every citizen who posts about guns, schools, or elections has to wonder what happens when the wrong person takes offense.^[1]^[3]^[6] A society that jails sarcasm does not stay free for long, no matter how loudly it talks about safety.