Alabama Man Faces Jail Time for Refusing To Apologize to a Cop for Cursing During Traffic Stop

Reginald Burks says he told a police officer, "Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school." First Amendment lawyers say he can't be forced to apologize.

An Alabama man is facing jail time for refusing to apologize to a police officer. 

When 39-year-old Reginald Burks cursed at a police officer during a tense traffic stop last year, an Alabama judge ordered him to say sorry to the cop—or spend up to 30 days behind bars.

According to critics, the judges' attempt to force an apology from Burks could be a violation of his First Amendment rights.

"Judges have considerable leeway to consider different factors in sentencing, including whether the defendant has shown remorse," Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment nonprofit, tells Reason. "But mandating an apology as a condition of receiving a lighter sentence raises First Amendment concerns about compelled speech."  

On December 13, 2023, Burks was driving his children to school when he was pulled over for speeding. Burks told Al.com that the officer told him his radar gun wasn't working, so he used cruise control to guess how fast he was going.

"And I told him he was full of crap because there's no way that he clocked my speed by cruise control," Burks said. Once the officer gave Burks a ticket, Burks claims he stood in front of Burk's vehicle, making it difficult to get around him and continue on his drive.

"I said, 'Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school,'" Burks told Al.com. "My daughter's like, 'Daddy you cursed.' And I said, 'I'm sorry boo.'"

Burks says that when he went to his court hearing to pay a fine and plead guilty to the traffic offense, Judge Nicholas Bull told him that he must write an apology to the officer who gave him a ticket or face 10 to 30 days in jail.

"I was like, I'll just pay the ticket, but I'm not going to apologize," Burks told Al.com "I didn't do anything to this officer besides curse. And there's no law saying that I can't curse or speak my mind."

Burks is right.

"Unless there is more going on here beyond what's been reported, it looks like the judge is simply punishing Burks for telling the officer, 'Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school.'" Terr says. "But the First Amendment protects the right to criticize or be rude to a police officer. The police rightly did not arrest or charge Burks with any offense related to his speech."

"This man is being convicted for something they couldn't charge him with and win at trial," Burks' attorney David Harrison told NBC on Monday. "The crime here is not apologizing and that's my issue. It's not constitutionally sound. It's probably the most unsound decision that I've seen in 33 years of practicing law."

According to Harrison, Burks is considering filing a lawsuit.

Comments

[Chumby]

This is wrong. It is also far less than the exercising 1A rights punishment that Ashli Babbitt received.

[Zeb]

Babbit's killing was murder. But I do think she was going a bit beyond simply exercising first amendment rights when she was shot.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Yeah, she was uppity too.

[Chumby]

She should not have been wearing that dress.

[Zeb]

There seems to be general agreement around here that doing whatever you want on public property is not generally protected by the first amendment. I don't think it would have been legally inappropriate to arrest her for trespassing or something like that.

[Chumby]

Yes, it should have been a citation and possible arrest for civil trespass.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Not the usual summary execution without trial? Huh.

[Kyfho Myoba]

Nope. For trespass to stick, she'd've had to have been told to leave and for her to refuse. No evidence any 1/6ers were even told to leave.

[American Mongrel]

Normally they’d defend the chicken shit cop for panicking, which is obviously what happened. But you know. It’s (D)ifferent or something like that.

Edit: I don't audit every poster's comments and keep score. So chumby and vulgar may not be back the blue types. Lo siento in advance if that's the case.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

It’s all good

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

This is the Reason comments section; there is absolutely no call for this kind of thoughtfulness here.

[diver64]

Agreed. You have no protection under the 1st Amendment for climbing through a window. Getting shot for doing it, however, is a little much. In fact, that cop should be in jail.

[Heedless]

It's a little different when you are the first member of a mob that has just finished beating down that armored window.

If she and her friends had been breaking into a Target, we would all be in agreement that the shooting was justified. Mobs are dangerous, and mobs that have already escalated to property damage are doubly so. Breaking into the US Capitol doesn't change any of that, it just makes Babbit politically sympathetic to a good fraction of our commenters.

[f7b155e]

Ashli Babbitt was basically asking for it participating in that insurrection, which in case people forgot is a violent uprising against a government which, in this case, was duly elected by the American public. You don't get to go cop killing because your candidate lost.

[Zeb]

Seems fairly outrageous. The judge seems to think he has the power to lock anyone appearing in his court up for no reason at all.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

It must be the robes.

[Don't look at me!]

Well, the robes are black after all.

[MrMxyzptlk]

You mean the dress? Crossdressing freak with delusions of godhood is a good description of most judges. The rest are women so they aren't cross dressing. They still have the delusions of godhood.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

Uniforms just do things to certain people.

[JesseAz]

Audit the Audit on YouTube is a pretty good channel going over these laws. The judge would probably get an F.

[Chumby]

Am a fan of them. I like that they show when public servants understand and follow the law in addition to showing the jack booted thugs.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2]

Donnie said he wants cops to rough-up more suspects. Immunity for all cops all the time.

[VULGAR MADMAN]

That should definitely happen to freaks who post links to CP.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

He really didn’t. But you’re an inveterate liar, and a self proclaimed pedophile.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

"We're going to give our police their power back," he told rallygoers in Waukesha, "and we are going to give them immunity from prosecution."

You're saying he lied?

[IceTrey]

Why go to court if you're going to pay the ticket just mail it in?

[diver64]

Kinda my question. In fact, why is he paying it since he said at the beginning it was a farce. Why not contest the ticket if he was going to show up anyways. The worst that could have happened is that he would be told to pay the ticket.

[jimc5499]

Some Municipalities don't give you that option. I got a speed camera ticket several years ago and was advised to go in person because the Township that issued the ticket didn't give the option of just sending a check. If I didn't go in person, I could be charged with Failure to Appear. When I called for a Court Date, I got told to just send a check. It was a runaround to get a Date. When I got one I challenged the ticket and won. The Judge asked why I didn't just send a check and I told him that according to the Township's Laws it wasn't an option.

[Longtobefree]

Needs context.
Say the skin colors of all involved.

[Don't look at me!]

This guy gets it.

[MasterThief]

What was the charge that had a potential penalty of 30 days in jail that the apology was pleading down from? What are the details for the rest of the tense police encounter?
It sounds like the guy was being a bit of an asshole. It sounds like the cop had less proof of speeding (though his method works if the guy was well over the limit.) The judge sounds petty and like he's exceeding his authority.
The problem is she and Reason keeps doing these one-sided narratives that leave some glaring holes. I don't trust that this is an accurate presentation of the facts. If everything is exactly as we're told then I still find the actions odd, but fully agree that the cop and judge are in the wrong.

[American Mongrel]

The cops say they don't want any more to do with it.
There's another court date in June.
His lawyer wants to make it about race.
Everyone else quoted seems to thinks it's legally interesting.
The "victim" appears to be ready to serve 30 days because he knows the judge has lost his damn mind and sees a large paycheck.

[Causter]

> large paycheck

From whom? Cop didn't compel speech. Absolute judicial immunity, end of story.

[diver64]

Paycheck from whom? That's the right question for the poster. There is no one to get money from. The cop gave the guy a ticket for speeding and didn't demand an apology on the spot threatening jail if he didn't get one. The judge is the one off his meds on this.

[Use the Schwartz]

Fuck that cop
Fuck the judge too
While I’m at it fuck you.

1A All Day.

[Graf Fuddington von Fuddrick]

If it were me I would relentlessly sue. The eventual settlement would be the icing on the cake, and a valuable lesson for the local county/municipality.

[AT]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

Language.

Some dorks here in the comments section like to mock and sneer and defy it to be offensive for the sake of being offensive – but that just proves how they don’t get it.

It costs nothing, and improves a thousand-fold your chances at a civil conversation instead of a contentious one. Why use it at all in a place like this? “The strong language of a weak mind," as the saying goes.

I’ll not deny the Samuel Clemons aphorism on the subject – Lord knows I’m guilty of it from time to time – but that doesn’t really apply to the internet then, does it. Where we can carefully think out what we want to say, how we want to say it, and consider our audience in the meantime.

Unless, of course, you’re just the “banging on the keyboard” type.

And there’s no law saying that I can’t curse or speak my mind.” Burks is right.

Yea, but outside of legal considerations, he’s also wrong. And coming up short as a parent. Though, to his credit, it seems like he’s trying to import a good example to his kids, even if he’s didn’t live up to it at that particular point in time. Which, frankly, I think the judge is giving him a very rare opportunity here to offer the man a chance to teach his younglings some grace and humility. I don’t think threatening it with jailtime is particularly appropriate – but, well, honestly, would it really be so bad if we felt socially/morally compelled in life to offer apology to people we cursed out because we lost our cool in the heat of the moment?

[TW]

Agreed, in most of the versions of the story I’ve read, he says that he apologized to his daughter for swearing because he knew it was wrong. So write the apology to the police officer and teach your kids “when you lose your temper and say something that you shouldn’t, you apologize.” Nobody who matter is going to think less of him for trying to set a better example for his kids.

I don’t think he’d spend thirty days in jail (it sounds like this would be for contempt for disobeying the judge’s order which was part of his sentence) but depending on his employer’s policy on unexcused absences, he could be putting his job in jeopardy. And if he loses his job because of this, it’s going to be harder convincing another employer to hire him for doubling down on something this foolish.

He’s got a couple of weeks. Hopefully he’ll cool down and write the apology. He could say why he lost his temper (without trying to make excuses) but still acknowledge that what he said was wrong and that this is not the way to behave especially in front of his children.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The judge can write a letter of apology to Burks, the Founders and whatever law school produced him.

[diver64]

Why show up to court just to pay the ticket, why didn't he just mail it in? Why not contest it if he thought it was in error since that is what he said in the first place. The cop, apparently, didn't say anything about his cursing so it's a non issue. There seems like something else going on here that is not being reported.