Local News

Judge: Preserving public trust trumps free speech rights in case of Cambridge cop’s George Floyd comments

March 17, 2024

2 minutes to read

A police officer’s comments on social media disparaging George Floyd can be punished by the Cambridge Police Department, according to a district court judge.

In a recent 33-page ruling, the judge dismissed police Sgt. Brian Hussey’s lawsuit against the city of Cambridge and former commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr., according to the Cambridge Day.

In a Feb. 25, 2021, post, Hussey described George Floyd, the murder victim of Minneapolis police in 2020, as a “career criminal, a thief and a druggie,” according to the news site.

In the post, Hussey was reacting to the naming of a police reform bill after Floyd, according to the Cambridge Day.

The post was brought to the attention of community leaders, including Richard Harding, a member of the Cambridge NAACP executive board at that time.

A copy of the post was given to Bard for investigation by the department’s Professional Standards Unit, according to the Cambridge Day.

Hussey was placed on administrative leave for four days without pay for violating department rules and standards, the news site said.

Hussey filed suit against Bard, both personally and as a commissioner, and the city. He alleged he faced retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Hussey also claimed in the lawsuit that he was denied a promotion in April 2022 due to the disciplinary action he faced the previous year as a result of the post. However, this was declared moot when he received the promotion at the end of August of that year, according to the Cambridge Day.

Hussey’s case against Bard as an individual was dismissed in 2022 where it was ruled that Bard was protected by qualified immunity, according to the site. However, the case against his capacity as a commissioner continued. Oral arguments for the case were heard on Jan. 29, 2024, according to the Cambridge Day.

In terms of his case against the city, the judge ruled that Hussey’s objections to a police reform bill being named after George Floyd were written in a manner that was “inflammatory and insulting,” which undermined the police force’s ability to maintain public trust. Because of the department’s need to maintain public trust, the suit was dismissed, according to the news site.

Hussey, a police officer since 1997, remains employed by the Cambridge police. After 10 years as a patrol officer, he was later assigned to work in the Special Investigations Unit. However, in 2020, Bard reassigned him to patrol.