Boulder County fended off a First Amendment lawsuit by agreeing to pay $20,000 to a Superior man who was arrested last year after shouting obscenities at a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop, the driver’s attorney announced Wednesday.

Robert McIntosh Jr. was pulled over for driving 41 mph in a flashing 20 mph school zone in Superior on Oct. 1. According to a police report, McIntosh called Deputy Tim Lynch an obscenity because the normal speed limit in the area was 35 mph, and yelled “screw you” at the deputy as Lynch was returning his documents.

Lynch — who previously had warned McIntosh he would be arrested if he continued to use abusive language — arrested McIntosh and took him to the Boulder County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of disobeying an officer and released.

McIntosh later pleaded guilty to speeding in Superior Municipal Court.

The disobeying-an-officer charge was dropped, but McIntosh didn’t let the matter go. Saying his rights were violated in the arrest, McIntosh retained prominent Denver attorney David Lane, who represented fired University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill.

Lane said the deputy should have issued McIntosh his speeding ticket and left it at that.

“I can tell you to go screw yourself. You can tell me to go screw myself,” Lane said. “Are cops somehow above the law? You can’t tell them to go screw themselves? It might not be the most polite way to go about things, but it’s not illegal.”

In a statement, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said settling with McIntosh was cheaper than defending the deputy’s actions in court.

“Our county attorney’s office reviewed the facts of the case and felt there was some exposure, because courts have ruled that while not all speech is protected, police officers are expected to take a higher level of verbal abuse than would be expected from a member of the general public,” Pelle said. “The decision was made to settle the case quickly and as inexpensively as possible, as litigation and attorney’s fees could become very expensive.”

Pelle said the sheriff’s office had taken advantage of the situation to educate deputies about “the appropriate constitutional limitations on free speech as they apply to peace officers.”

Asked if Lynch was disciplined, Pelle on Wednesday said he could not comment on personnel matters.

Lane said taxpayers should be upset that $20,000 was “wasted” because a deputy arrested someone over what he said.

“The First Amendment lives in a very rough neighborhood,” Lane said. “If you can’t stand it, go live somewhere there is no First Amendment. You don’t get to arrest someone just because you don’t like what they said.”