What happens if you insult a police officer

CNN Kentucky state lawmakers have advanced a bill that would make it a crime to insult or taunt a law enforcement officer in a way that could provoke a violent response. Officers block an intersection during protests over the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. It's one of several provisions included in a larger bill that seeks to increase penalties for crimes related to riots.

A state Senate committee passed the bill last week. Under the bill, a person who "accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contact, that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response" in a public place would be guilty of disorderly conduct in the second degree.

To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. It's generally legal to curse at and insult police officers. But the issue has been litigated in courts — and there are some exceptions to the rule. Washington state's Supreme Court last week threw out an obstruction-of-justice case involving a minor who insulted police officers — calling them "motherfuckers" — as they detained his sister, the Seattle Times's Jennifer Sullivan reported.

The state court concluded that the juvenile was within his First Amendment rights when he cursed at the cops. The court noted that while the boy's "words may have been disrespectful, discourteous, and annoying, they are nonetheless constitutionally protected. So what is the legal standard for insulting and cursing at cops? The Marshall Project's Ken Armstrong explained:.

The court's finding reaffirmed a principle with a long and geographically sweeping history in the United States, to wit: People are allowed to call the police names, even really bad names, and really, it's hard to imagine a name much worse than "motherfucker. There are exceptions to this, of course. But in general — as the examples below attest — as long as people don't resort to conduct that threatens violence, or use "fighting words" likely to incite a violent response, they can go ahead and tell police what they think of them, be it through profanity, gesture, or donut reference.

Armstrong walked through several examples of cases at state and federal courts involving words like "asshole" and "czar" and gestures like the middle finger. In each case, courts sided with the person disparaging the cops as long as the insult didn't threaten violence or wasn't inherently likely to incite violence in a reasonable person. After all, nobody likes getting a ticket, or being accused of a crime. But can insulting a police officer get you into trouble in and of itself? In fact, this is one of the functions of the First Amendment.

All three of these cases deal with city ordinances restricting speech, though only the latter two, Lewis and Hill, deal specifically with yelling at, interrupting, or yelling obscenities at police officers. In , the U. New York law treats this crime as a Class A misdemeanor.

It is unlikely harassment laws such as this one will ever be challenged in the Supreme Court. Anti-harassment laws are well-established all over the country. Freedom of speech is poor protection if the officer decides to arrest you for something else.