Sparks, NE, police officer George Forbush is suing the city of Sparks and three individual city staff members for $1 million in alleged damages related to being placed on administrative leave and suspended without pay last year.
Forbush was placed on administrative leave by the city on Aug. 18, 2020 for social media posts threatening members of the Black Lives Matter movement. His lawsuit argues the disciplinary action violated his First Amendment rights.
Under the Twitter handle "@Punisher8205," Forbush tweeted, "...I'm going to build a couple AR pistols just for BLM, Antifa, or active shooters who cross my path and can’t maintain social distancing," the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
After reviewing more than 700 twitter posts by Forbush following his administrative leave, the City decided to suspend Forbush for four days without pay on Dec. 4, according to the lawsuit. The suspension term was chosen by the city as one day for each of four posts they found worthy of discipline.
