William Barboza has successfully sued a town in New York after he was wrongly arrested for what he wrote on top of a traffic ticket.
Frustrated after receiving a speeding ticket in Liberty, New York, the 22-year-old mailed in his payment with the words “f*ck your sh*tty town b*tches” scribbled across the top of the citation.
After receiving the ticket in the mail, the town refused to process his payment. When he showed up to court to plead guilty and pay the fine in person, he was arrested for “aggravated harassment”.
The aggravated harassment case was dismissed in 2013. Barboza then filed a federal lawsuit for violation of his first amendment rights. After nearly 2 years, a judge ruled in his favor and Barboza won the lawsuit.
He issued the following statement to the press, “I hope that by standing up for myself, other Americans will not be treated like criminals for complaining about their government with a few harmless words.”
According to the NY Daily News, monetary damages will be determined at a later date.