Man Ticketed For Flashing Middle Finger - Suing

[matcom]

<snip>

PITTSBURGH -- A Pittsburgh man said a ticket a state police trooper gave him is for the bird. No, not the birds. The bird. Literally.

But 42-year-old Stephen Corey said he is suing because he believes he had a First Amendment right to flip his middle finger at Trooper Samuel Nassan III, who gave Corey two tickets last July.

Corey's lawsuit said Nassan ticketed him for following another vehicle too closely, then wrote him up for giving a improper hand signal, the middle finger.

Corey and his attorney said that's wrong because Nassan filed the ticket as though Corey committed a motor vehicle violation -- like a motorist who made an illegal turn signal using his hand.

Nassan chuckled about the lawsuit, but said the ticket was proper because -- he said -- Corey gave him the finger as part of a gesture that indicated he was changing lanes.

Nassan can afford to be good-natured about the suit, because it's far from the most serious one he's facing right now. Nassan and his former partner, Trooper Juan Curry, are being sued in federal court for the fatal shooting of 12-year-old car theft suspect Michael Ellerbe in Uniontown, Pa., on Christmas Eve, 2002.

http://www.wftv.com/news/4164821/detail.html