A Florida man was arrested for displaying an obscene bumper sticker on the back of his truck, one that either expressed his sexual preferences, or his love for a four-legged animal.
After Dillon Shane Webb was told the sticker was “derogatory,” he claimed his freedom of expression was violated, and the deputy’s office asked if he was using his free speech to express his desire of “eating a donkey.”
Keep reading to learn why Webb was arrested over a bumper sticker!
In 2019, a Columbia County sheriff’s deputy was driving behind a pickup truck when he noticed a vulgar sticker plastered on the middle of the rear window.
Dashcam footage shows Deputy Travis English stopping his cruiser in a parking lot behind the brown pickup, operated by Dillon Shane Webb, 23, with the bumper sticker in clear view.
The letters on the sticker – printed in bold white – reads, “I EAT A**.”
In the video, the deputy approaches the passenger side of the truck and after saying, “hello gentleman,” he explains that he pulled the car over due to “the derogatory sticker” displayed on the back of his truck.
In Florida, law prohibits “any sticker, decal emblem or other device attached to a motor vehicle containing obscene descriptions, photographs or depictions.”
“How’s it derogatory?” Webb asks from inside the car.
The officer replies, “How’s it not derogatory?”
“Some 10-year-old kid sitting in the passenger seat of his momma’s vehicle looks over and sees ‘I eat a**’ and asks his mom what it means,” English says. “How is she going to explain that?”
Sniping back, the driver provides the wrong answer: “That’s the parent’s job, not my job,” Webb says before he’s asked to present his driver’s license and registration.
After stepping out of the vehicle, Webb is searched, and the deputy tells him the sticker is a “misdemeanor violation of Florida’s obscene materials law.”
“I have four kids…if my 6-year-old was to look at me and like, ‘dad what does I eat a** mean?…he’s curious…and the way [you] handled this situation, I’m not pleased with,” English said before offering Webb the opportunity to explain his sticker to the court system.
Next, the deputy suggests Webb remove one of the letters from the word “A**” to read “AS.” But Webb refused, citing his constitutional right to free speech.
A few minutes later, things take a nasty turn for Webb.
After confirming with his supervisor that he had reasonable rights within the law, English steps out of his cruiser and approaches Webb, who’s leaning against his car, looking at his cellphone.
“All right Mr. Webb. Place your hands behind your back,” Webb is told. When he asks “why?” he learns “because you’re going to jail.”
Asking “for what?” English explains that he was given “the option to take that off” the window, but he “refused.”
He was then arrested and charged with the additional offense of “resisting an officer without violence.”
‘Perverted mind’
“They’re just words,” Webb later told First Coast News. “If that’s how they feel, if they have a perverted mind, that’s on them.”
But according to Sergeant Murray Smith of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, it wasn’t just the words on the sticker that Deputy English determined was illegal.
“It was the obscene phrase depicting what the deputy thought was a sexual act, which is obscene by definition,” said Smith. “What would a reasonable citizen think? Is the guy eating a donkey or is he doing a sexual act?”
The incident captured the attention of a lot of social media users, the majority who defended Webb.
“So what if he eats donkey. What’s the big deal?” asks one netizen. Another, referring to English speaking of his child’s potential reaction to the sticker, says, “Since when are a cop’s feelings deserving of an arrest?”
“I live here and as soon as we heard he got arrested we all went and got the sticker and put it on [our] trucks,” pens a third.
Another adds, “He better keep his kids off the internet. They will see far worse than this.”
The State Attorney’s Office cited the First Amendment and the charges against Webb were dropped. Later, Webb sued for alleged violations of his First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard of the Middle District of Florida ruled that the arrest was “arguably justified under Florida’s obscenity law,” giving the officer and his supervisor “qualified immunity,” which means they are protected from the lawsuit.
This case underscores the ongoing debate in the U.S. over free speech and its boundaries, especially around expressions some might find offensive or derogatory. It also reflects how the First Amendment remains a contentious issue, with some insisting their right to free expression is under threat, while others argue for consideration that certain messages will have on the population.
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Chloe Bailey Cries After Accidentally Eating Meat For The First Time In 10 Years
When Chloe Bailey discovered she had inadvertently consumed meat for the first time in ten years, she was distraught.
Bailey, an American actress and singer, rose to prominence as part of the combo Chloe x Halle, alongside her sister Halle Bailey.
The twins have collaborated on two studio albums, the most well-known of which, “Ungodly Hour,” has garnered critical praise.
Bailey and her sister have been vocal about their eating preferences throughout the years.
The two have been transparent about their decision to follow a vegan diet, which excludes any animal products from their diet.
However, Bailey was shocked to learn that she had once violated her lifestyle choice after a hotel misplaced her order.
Following the singer’s disclosure about the event, fans flocked to the comments section, with one person writing: “More than seven years here.” I am fully aware of this. I’ve experienced it as well. I have a lot of doubts regarding the source of my meals.
“I’m vegan, and the thought of it made me sick,” another person said.
A third person expressed empathy by saying, “I’d be p***ed if I put ten years into something and someone’s mistake jeopardizes that.”
Another person said, “That is not cool, I haven’t eaten pork in 20 years and recently stopped eating meat. I would have instantly been sick.”
According to The Independent, Chloe said during an Instagram broadcast that she broke her meat avoidance when she saw Beyoncé perform in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Well, I called to get a Beyond burger for sis and me like usual,” she started. stated that it is vegan and that there is no butter or anything like on the bun.
The plant-based meat substitutes sold under the Beyond Meat brand are made to resemble, taste, and cook like meat.
The “Have Mercy” singer claimed that when the burger came, she was in the shower and that her younger sister asked her about it right away when she got back to the bedroom.
“Are you sure this is Beyond?’ she asks as she bites into the burger. After taking a few bites, she exclaimed, “This is really good—are you sure it’s Beyond?” said Chloe.
“I smelled and touched the patty, and I immediately knew it was Beyond.”
However, the pop star quickly realized she was mistaken.
“I take a bite and the juice dripping from the burger is not like a Beyond burger,” Chloe said after finishing her outfit. I simply knew it wasn’t a phony burger.I knew after taking only one taste. I said, “This doesn’t feel right,” right away.
The singer tried to get some answers right away by calling the hotel’s front desk.
“These are vegan burgers, am I right?,” I exclaimed. “No, those are brand burgers,” he remarked. Say what? Brand burgers? Beyond hamburgers, I said. Chloe recalled, “I have no idea what a brand burger is.
The singer was understandably disappointed to find that she had inadvertently violated her vegan diet.
“Halle’s laughing at me because I’m crying,” hloe shared with her fans. This is just before yesterday’s concert. Halle is laughing so hard at me because I’m weeping and I’m freaking out.
Chloe said on TikTok that, months after the burger incident and eleven years after she started eating vegan, she had begun to consume chicken.
She sighed deeply before speaking, saying, “My confession is that I have recently started consuming chicken.”
And after 11 years, I can honestly say that I’m dead serious. I’m not making this up. I’ve been vegan for eleven years, but I now eat chicken.
The vocalist of “Do It” made it clear that she doesn’t eat any other dairy products.
“It’s like, I am still allergic to egg whites and I don’t consume dairy and honestly it’s been really good,” Chloe said to her admirers.I haven’t been eating anything else, but I’ve been experimenting with chicken.
She went on, “And you know, my stomach hurt a little bit when I first ate it. After that, I had no problems.I just cannot eat fried chicken that has been dipped in egg wash due to an egg allergy. I have seen, though, that my physique has been becoming more toned. And I feel like it’s just been toning me—I haven’t even been working out like crazy like I typically do.
Chloe joked that she would be discovered “sooner or later” and said, “So I mean, I knew.”
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