Protesters demonstrate outside Churchill Downs as part of the "No Justice, No Derby Protest" on September 5 2020, the day of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky (Chris Tuite/ImageSPACE/MediaPunch /IPX)
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky are trying to make it illegal for protesters to taunt cops.The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Danny Carroll, includes numerous provisions aimed at suppressing protests, including bans on challenging a law enforcement officer “with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contact.” It also prohibits protesters from aiming noise-making horns at police officers. Committing one of these offenses would mean being charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and fines up to $250.Carroll says the bill is meant to ban protest actions designed to get cops to respond violently. “In these riots, you see people getting up in officers' faces, yelling in their ears, doing everything they can to provoke a violent response,” Carroll said when he introduced the bill.“I'm not saying the officers do [respond violently], but there has to be a provision within that statute to allow officers to react to that. Because that does nothing but incite those around that vicinity, and it furthers and escalates the riotous behavior.”Carroll, who’s a retired cop himself, said the bill is a response to the protests that have rocked Louisville in the wake of the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot by police during a botched drug raid.Louisville Democratic Sen. David Yates strongly opposed the bill, saying it was an overreach of government power. “I don't believe that any of my good officers are going to be provoked to a violent response because somebody does a 'yo mama' joke, or whatnot,” Yates said in a committee meeting, the Courier Journal reported.The ACLU of Kentucky slammed the bill in a statement, calling it an “extreme bill to stifle dissent.”The chapter’s legal director, Corey Shapiro, also told the local news outlet that the law would diminish protesting and free speech rights in a way that directly defies the First Amendment.“Verbally challenging police action — even if by insult or offensive language — is a cornerstone of our democracy," Shapiro told The Courier Journal. "And the First Amendment protects people's ability to express themselves, even if it's using offensive words to the police."The bill was already passed through a Senate committee by a vote of 7-3 last week and will now be brought to the Senate floor.
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