An Alabama man is refusing to comply with a judge’s order to apologize to a cop he cursed at during a traffic stop. Now, he risks spending up to a month in jail for not saying sorry.
Last December, Reginald Burks was pulled over by a police officer in Ozark as he was taking his kids to school. The cop told Burks he was driving 25 mph over the speed limit. Burks questioned if that was the case and asked how the officer clocked his speed. He said the cop told him he didn’t use a radar gun. Rather, he used cruise control to determine the speed of Burks’ car.
Burks told him “he was full of crap,” according to AL.com, and that’s when the encounter started to go south. After the officer handed Burks a ticket, he stood in front of his car, making it hard for Burks to drive off.
“After he gave me the ticket, he stood at the car (and) I said, “Hey, man, can you move?” He said go ahead and go. I said, “How am I going to go if you are standing right there? Move your ass out the way,” Burks told WTVY News4.
Burks paid a fine totaling more than $200 for the traffic offense in April, but it wasn’t enough for a local judge.
Municipal Judge Nicholas Bull ordered Burks to compose a written apology to the officer. If he doesn’t, he’ll be jailed for 10 to 30 days. He has until June 4 to present his letter to the court.
Burks told multiple outlets he’s prepared to face jail time. He admitted to swearing at the cop but thinks an apology is unnecessary.
“What am I going to do? I’m going to jail,” Burks told AL.com.“I ain’t writing no letter. I can’t do it. I don’t see where it’s legal for him to do that.”
Burks hired an attorney, who believes the court has violated Burks’ constitutional rights.
“My client is being punished for a protected speech that has got nothing to do with the traffic situation, which to me is just good ol’ boy Alabama,” David Harrison, Burks’ attorney, told NBC News. “And what I mean by that is that this system is not equal for African-Americans and white people.”
The officer who issued the ticket and the judge who ordered Burks to apologize are both white.
“If I did something to offend him or bodily harm him in any way, I would apologize,” Burks said. “But 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.”
University of Alabama professor Jenny Carroll sided with Burks and his attorney. She said judges can tack extra conditions onto sentences but called this order against Burks a “disproportionate punishment.”
“The charged offense was the speeding, not anything to do with the profanity,” Carroll told NBC News. “So not only is the judge punishing a crime for which the individual is not charged, but beyond that, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a person who would say 30 days seems like an appropriate sentence in jail for somebody who uttered the word ass in frustration. Which is, I think, if you look at the facts of this case, is what happened.”
Alabama law does prohibit cursing in public, but Burks was never charged with disorderly conduct or cited for an offense related to that statute. Harrison said Burks might file a lawsuit in the case.
“I think I deserve an apology and my kids deserve an apology before he does,” Burks said. “Because they got a tardy in school.”
Burks, 39, is an aircraft mechanic who lives in Skipperville, a town just outside Ozark. Skipperville and Ozark are located in southeast Alabama, about 90 miles south of Montgomery.
