Kentucky State Senate passes bill criminalizing police insults, Democrats lash out

The Kentucky State Senate passed a bill to enhance penalties for crimes relating to rioting including criticism. It is said to criminalize insulting police officers and chill protected free speech after a heated debate on Thursday. 

Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, a retired police officer said that his Senate Bill 211 would send a message to those who “tried to destroy the city of Louisville” in the civil unrest last year.

According to Senate bill 211, it is a crime to prompt an officer verbally to the point it could provoke a violent response along with increasing punishments on crimes related to rioting.

Carroll said in a statement that insulting an officer is not going to cause anyone to go to jail but his bill states a person is guilty of disorderly conduct a Class B misdemeanor with up to 90 days imprisonment as a penalty, if he or she “accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contacts, that would provoke a violent response from the perspective of a reasonable and prudent person.”

The bill was passed by a 22-11 vote with six Republicans joining Democrats to vote ‘no.’

A Democrat who represents a majority-Black district in west Louisville, Sen. Gerald Neal said that Carroll’s bill is insulting and viewed it as a direct attack on his constituents who protest for and demand racial justice.

“This is another hammer on my district,” Neal said. “This is a backhand slap. And I resent it. I personally resent it.”

Neal twice in anger said “how dare you,” calling the bill “beneath this body. It’s unwise. It’s provocative. It’s unnecessary. It’s unreasonable.” Neal added he was “befuddled” by the legislation.

Meanwhile, many law professors and attorneys said that the bill violates free speech, equal protection, and due process, and the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution.