This is Nick Weems, the sheriff for Perry County, Tennessee. Sheriff Nick Weems is not going to be held accountable, and he will not be answerable to anyone, no matter how much he cost his city. And you may have already heard, he and his deputies have caused their city $835, because they jailed this man for 37 days. What dastardly crime did this man, Larry Buchart, commit? He posted this simple meme to a Facebook group. This is Sheriff Nick Weems admitting that at that time, this guy that they apprehended had already been in jail for 35 days. >> He's been here for 35 days. >> 35 days? >> Mhm. >> Uh-huh. Over a meme? >> And again, this is the meme he was sent to jail for. Well, Larry and his legal team have now collected $835,000 in settlement money. This is what one of the deputies said when they took Larry to jail. >> I just clarify. This is what this order is for. >> Uh-huh. >> Threatening mass violence at school. >> At school? >> It's referring to the school. I have no idea This is what they called us for. And I ain't got a clue. >> I posted on Facebook. >> I got no clue what I know you're going to do. >> I know. >> I ain't got a clue. I just I just had to do what I had to do. >> I posted on Facebook. >> I'm not saying you did or didn't do anything. >> No, I didn't do but I didn't >> I didn't commit a crime. >> That's that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying you did or did not commit a crime. >> I mean, then I had to solve but I'm >> That's not illegal. I ain't got a clue. I just I just had to do what I had to do. >> "I ain't got a clue," the deputy says. "I just got to do what I have to do. I'm just following orders. I'm just doing my job. I don't write the laws, I just carry them out and enforce them. It says in this PBS news article, "Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post that he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk." Tennessee officials will pay $835,000? No, they won't. No money is coming out of their pocket. The Perry County Insurance Company will pay it because they're part of the Tennessee Risk Management Trust, but who pays the premium on that insurance policy? And what happens to the price of that insurance policy when they pay out for crap like this because some cop decided that he's not going to protect and defend the Constitution that he swore to uphold. Nick Weems is a Tennessee official. He's not going to pay anything because he's got qualified immunity. District Attorney Brent Cooper, who greenlit the charge that was pressed by Sheriff Memes before it was handed up to the judge, won't be paying one cent of that $835,000 cuz he's got prosecutorial immunity. Judge Michael Collins, who signed the warrant to have Larry Bouchard arrested, isn't going to face any consequences because he has judicial immunity. So, neither Nick, Michael, nor Brent have learned a goddamn thing, and they're not going to change their ways. There's no incentive for them to change their ways. If they can commit crimes against the community and get away with it, why wouldn't they just continue to commit more crimes? They'll get their retirement. They'll receive their pensions. They won't ever see jail time. Their bank accounts won't ever be drained because they abused their power and violated the public trust. People like this guy who exercised their rights will continue to go to jail. You know that they put a $2 million bail on this guy? That's why he was in jail for 37 days. He couldn't afford to bail himself out. Yeah, so much for the land of the free. Says, while people across the US lost their jobs over social media comments about Kirk's death, Larry Bouchard's case stood out as a rare instance in which such online speech led to criminal prosecution. The 61-year-old retired police officer spent 37 days behind bars before authorities dropped the felony charge against him in October. And so many bad things can happen to you when you're in jail. That's why we call it a rape cage. You could literally die in police custody. If you don't get beat up by the guards, you could be molested by one of the prisoners or your life threatened. You could be poisoned by the food and the water they feed you. And to add insult to injury, during his jail time, Bouchard lost his post-retirement job and missed his wedding anniversary and the birth of his granddaughter. You can't get those memories back. No amount of money is going to heal any of that. And look at this, the protectors and servants, the people who are trusted to make sure just things happen in the community. It says, according to a federal lawsuit Bouchard filed in December against Perry County, its sheriff According to the federal lawsuit Bouchard filed in December against Perry County, and the sheriff and the investigator pressured this well-fed DA to approve the warrant and kick it up to this well-paid black-robed tyrant. The entire system failed this guy, which means the entire system would have failed you and I. When injustice happens to one man anywhere, it happens to all men everywhere. I don't care if he's a former cop. This guy's a human being in America who has free speech rights. They took that right away, and then they penalized him for exercising the right. And because there are no consequences, they do it with impunity. They don't care. And I'm sorry to have to pick this article apart, but there are some things that are said in it that are just not true. Bouchard says, "I'm pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated." You may have been compensated, but you haven't been vindicated. This settlement changes nothing. The premiums will go up for Perry County, but nobody's going to lose their jobs. Seriously, I'm not being hyperbolic. This guy, this guy, and this guy should all lose their jobs, their pensions should be liquidated, and their asses should be thrown in jail for the rest of their lives, not just 37 days. They knew what they were doing, and they held hands while they were doing it. It was a chain of conspiracy, corruption, and criminality. A guy lost his rights. He lost all of his freedoms. He was separated from his family. He lost his job. He missed his granddaughter's birth. He missed his wedding anniversary. There's a vital 37-day sliver of his life that he will never get back. And $22,567 for each of the 37 days he was in jail may take the edge off for him, but it doesn't solve anything for the community. Do you realize because of police abuse of power, the top 25 cities in the United States have had to pay out over 3.2 billion dollars in the last 10 years simply because police officers decided not to honor their oath. That's all they had to do. Just protect freedoms. That's your entire job. Protect life, protect liberty, protect property, and the people's pursuit of happiness. That's all you got to do. You could be real heroes if you just did that. What if you just aired on the side of freedom? Every time you clock in, every time you put on that uniform, every time you pin that badge to that lapel, you said to yourself, "I am going to protect the freedom of the people today, and I'm only going after criminals. I'm not going to fabricate a crime. I'm not going to wreck people's lives under the color of traffic law. I'm not going to get my feelings hurt. I'm not going to get my ego bruised. I refuse to harm anyone unless I catch them in the commission of a crime where they're harming somebody else." How can it be that hard? How messed up do you have to be in the mind to not do that as you hold this position of trust? Says the people's freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I'm looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family. And of course the mayor didn't respond to a question about this case. Bouchard was arrested in September after he refused to take down a Facebook meme that joked about Kirk's killing, which had prompted an outpouring of grief among conservatives. So, here comes Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems to enforce the feelings of those people in the community who were offended by a Facebook post. >> He's been here [clears throat] for 35 days. >> 35 days? >> Mhm. >> Uh over a meme? >> Once again, 37 days for posting this on a Facebook page. As for Nick Weems, Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems told news outlets that most of Bouchard's hate memes were lawful free speech, but residents were alarmed by the school shooting post fearing Bouchard was threatening a local school, also called Perry High School, even though Weems said he knew the meme referred to a school in Iowa. Here's what Weems said to the local newspaper at that time. Investigators believe Bouchard was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community. The guy's bail was set at $2 million. Didn't harm anybody, clearly didn't threaten anybody, didn't damage property, didn't steal property. There are people who murder other people that don't get a $2 million bond. An attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is the attorney association that defended Honor Your Oath's civil rights investigations multiple times, said, "It's in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most." A freaking man. When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. And what Lysander Spooner said 150-200 years ago really resonates with me. Whether the Constitution be one thing or another, this much is certain. It's either authorized such a tyrannical government as we have or it's powerless to stop it. In either case, it's unfit to exist. You have the right to be secure in your persons, houses, papers, and effects. You have the right to say whatever you want to on American soil. Those rights are supposed to be protected, and yet the protectors continually violate those rights as they jeopardize your life when you're exercising those rights. Thrown into a cage for 37 days for exercising free speech, what kind of Gestapo [ __ ] is that? And I just want to end this video with this completely naive statement. Our hope is that Larry's settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country, respect the First Amendment today or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow. Law enforcement didn't pay that price. The DA didn't pay that price. The judge who signed the warrant didn't pay that price and won't pay that price. The payout of this settlement money is not justice. It's appeasement. And a $3.2 billion settlement payout over the last decade just in 25 cities in America as a direct result of law enforcement abuse of power and systemic failure testifies to the reality of a corruption that will never change as long as we continue to give officials immunity. Yeah, I'm glad he's out. I'm glad he was compensated for his loss. But this pattern of police criminality is going to continue. And if you keep paying out and nothing changes, you don't get justice back from those dollars. You're just encouraging further police criminality. Let me know what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I will see you in the next video.