An Arkansas state trooper is not immune from lawsuit for arresting a man who cursed him, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Monday.

Lagarian Cross had sought qualified immunity for acting in a official capacity but been denied it by Judge P.K. Holmes. He appealed.

In 2015, Cross had stopped a van occupied by a woman and two children on a highway in Fort Smith when Eric Thurairajah drove by and yelled “fuck you” out of his car window. Cross said children in the van reacted to the curse. He gave chase, stopped Thurairajah and cited him for disorderly conduct for making “unreasonable or excessive noise.”

The charge was eventually dropped. But the 8th Circuit agreed with Holmes that the plaintiff’s rights had been violated and he could seek damages from the trooper. The lawsuit names others. The court agreed that a two-word epithet didn’t constitute probable cause for a warrantless arrest for disorderly conduct and court precedent also upheld his 1st Amendment claim to protected speech. It said he should be free from retaliation for exercising that right.


A trial in the case has been postponed by the appeal on judge’s ruling.

Here’s the ruling.