A Wisconsin man arrested for posting disparaging and profanity laced comments on a local police department's Facebook page has settled a civil rights lawsuit and is being awarded $35,000.

Thomas G. Smith used the Facebook page of a rural Wisconsin village called Arena to, among other things, label local cops as "fucking racists bastards."

He was charged criminally in state court on allegations of disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communications. He was sentenced to a year of probation and 25 hours of community service. A state appeals court overturned his conviction last year.

Smith then sued, (PDF) leading to the $35,000 settlement Tuesday of a lawsuit that also accused the police department of deleting his and other critical comments while allowing favorable comments to remain online.

Smith posted his comments in response to the department thanking the community on Facebook for helping capture two black juveniles. Soon after, police called up Smith, asking whether he, indeed, posted the comments. One of those comments said, "Fuck them nigers bitchs wat you got on us not a dam thing so fuck off dicks."

Smith, now 27, confirmed he was the commenter. He said he had meant what he had written. He was soon arrested for his July 2012 comments.

Local authorities said the man's comments were "fighting words" that were not protected by the First Amendment. A state appeals court reversed the conviction, saying the "fighting words" doctrine applies when the speaker and listener are in close proximity to one another.