A West Virginia man has accused two officers of violating his constitutional rights and wrongfully arresting him all because he flipped them the middle finger.
Corey Lambert filed a federal civil rights complaint alleging that the cops violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights during a traffic stop in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 2023.
According to the complaint, Martinsburg police officers Coby Engle and Jose Boursiquot pulled Lambert over on Feb. 10, 2023, after he passed their police cruiser and raised his middle finger “to communicate his disapproval and criticism to the officers.”
Bodycam footage shows Engle approaching Lambert’s truck and asking him if his extended finger was supposed to represent a specific hand signal. When Lambert said he flipped the bird because he wanted to, Engle asks for his driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.
When Lambert questioned whether the reason for the stop was because he raised his middle finger, Engle confirmed that to be the case, calling it “improper hand display.”
Lambert protests that justification, but at that point, Officer Boursiquot approaches his truck and tells him, “If I have to say it one more time to provide with me the documents, I’m gonna place you under arrest.”
“Under arrest for what?” Lambert asks.
Immediately, the officers throw Lambert’s driver’s side door open and pull him out of the vehicle, then handcuff him and place him in their police cruiser.
At one point, Lambert is heard asking the reason for his arrest from the back of the cruiser, but the officers don’t answer.
After Lambert is detained, Engle turns his body camera audio off, but the officers are seen speaking with one another, searching Lambert’s car, and taking a cigarette break.
According to the complaint, Lambert was booked into a local jail where he was held for three days on a $1,211 cash-only bond. He consequently lost his job as a truck driver due to his incarceration, the suit states.
He was charged with improper hand and arm signals, two counts of obstructing police, and no proof of insurance. One of the obstruction counts was dropped after three months.
State law dictates that West Virginia motorists must make correct hand-and-arm signals to indicate their movements on the road if they aren’t using a vehicle’s turn signals.
In Engle’s police report, he confirmed that Lambert “was not indicating his direction of travel in his vehicle with his hand signaling and that he was simply giving me the middle finger.” However, Engle still determined the gesture was a municipal violation.
The lawsuit also asserted that Lambert’s intention for raising his middle finger was not to signal his traffic direction but to exercise his First Amendment rights and criticize the officers.
The suit claims the officers were motivated to punish and intimidate Lambert for exercising his free speech and that they unlawfully searched his truck and detained him without reasonable suspicion to determine he committed a crime.
The complaint also alleged that the city of Martinsburg has allowed the local police department to maintain “constitutionally deficient” policies that allow officers to seize motorists “in the absence of reasonable suspicion, and in retaliation for engaging in the protected free speech of giving the finger or other protected free speech critical to law enforcement.”
City of Martinsburg Attorney Floyd M. “Kin” Sayre III sent West Virginia MetroNews a statement after learning that Lambert was planning to file a civil complaint:
The City of Martinsburg is aware of an incident that took place on February 10, 2023, regarding a traffic stop and subsequent arrest by the Martinsburg Police Department. The City of Martinsburg is further looking into the arrest, but the City will have no specific comment regarding the underlying allegations or assertions given that the City has been threatened with litigation. In the meantime, the City of Martinsburg will be providing all officers of the Martinsburg Police Department additional refresher training to ensure all constitutional rights of all citizens are upheld.
Lambert is being represented by attorney John H. Bryan, who examines cases involving police misconduct and constitutional violations on his Civil Rights Lawyer YouTube channel where he also covered Lambert’s arrest.
