By Joanna Putman
Police1
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Cambridge Police Department officer who was disciplined over social media comments on George Floyd, the Harvard Crimson reported.
Sgt. Brian E. Hussey sued the department in Nov. 2021 after he was given two months of administrative leave and a four day unpaid suspension for calling Floyd a “career criminal, a thief and a druggie” on social media, according to the report. Hussey claimed that the disciplinary actions violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
Hussey stated in the complaint that his statements did not have any disruptive impact on the community, as they were posted to a private account and quickly deleted.
U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley ruled in the department’s favor, stating that it had a “strong interest” in restricting the speech in order to preserve public trust in the department, according to the report.
“When a citizen enters a public role, they must accept certain limitations on their freedoms,” she wrote. Kelley stated that Hussey was still subject to speech restrictions as a government employee while speaking as a citizen, according to the report.
Kelley added that the most relevant issue with Hussey’s comments was the fact that they were in response to the naming of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in Feb. 2021.
“More relevant than the particular terms used was the fact that the thrust of the message disparaged George Floyd as being unworthy of being honored in that manner because of his past criminal conduct and substance abuse issues,” Kelley wrote. “It dismissed the reasons why George Floyd’s life and tragic death inspired the legislation.”
Hussey argued in the department’s internal investigation that his concerns regarding the naming of the bill did not devalue Floyd’s life or death, according to the report.
“While George Floyd did not deserve to have his life taken away that day, he was still a violent criminal,” Hussey said. “I feel that attaching the name of a violent career criminal, in ‘honor,’ to a reform bill aimed at the betterment of policing is a disservice to the spirit of the bill.”