Minnesota honors student and athlete Reid Sagehorn is taking his school district and hometown police chief to court after they worked to expel him and charge him with a felony. The district and chief were reacting to a two-word tweet authored by the promising student: “Actually, yes.”

In January, Sagehorn was asked by an anonymous Twitter used whether he had kissed a gym instructor at his school. Sagehorn jokingly responded that he had – prompting his school to suspend him for 10 days for violating a school policy against “threatening, intimidating or assault of a teacher, administrator or other staff member.”

The district then moved to expel Sagehorn, forcing him to change schools. Rogers Police Chief Jeff Beahen soon joined the witch hunt, working to charge Sagehorn with a felony. Beahen called Sagehorn’s tweet “a crime” akin to making a bomb threat or shouting fire in a crowded theater.

Sagehorn argues that the school violated his First Amendment rights – as the tweet was not sent from school grounds – and that Beahen defamed him, permanently linking his name to the word “felony.”

Attorney Robert Bennett says “We’d be happy with whatever amount a federal jury would award.”







[about_ian]