Florida Man Arrested For Refusing to Remove 'I Eat A**' Sticker From His Truck Gets Charges Dropped

A Florida man, who was arrested earlier this week for refusing to remove a vulgar sticker from his pick up truck, has had his charges dropped.

Dillon Shane Webb, 23, of Lake City, Florida, was charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of obscene material and resisting arrest without violence over an altercation with police on Highway 90 on Sunday. At around 5.50 p.m. on May 5, a deputy from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office confronted Webb about a sticker on the rear window of his Chevrolet truck that read: "I eat a**."

Assistant State Attorney John Foster Durrett sent a letter to Columbia County Sheriff's Office on Thursday announcing that charges against Webb had been dropped and that the crude sticker was protected under the First Amendment.

"Having evaluated the evidence through the prism of Supreme Court precedent it is determined the Defendant has a valid defense to be raised under the First Amendment of our United States Constitution. Given such, a jury would not convict under these facts," the letter read.

When the deputy pulled over Webb on Sunday, he claimed the sticker violated Florida Statute 847.011, which addresses the possession and distribution of obscene or lewd materials, including images, drawings or words.

The officer asked Webb to remove the sticker or one of the letters, which he refused, citing his First Amendment rights. Webb was then arrested, charged and subsequently released on a $2,500 bond.

Following the incident, Webb told the Associated Press he intended to file a wrongful arrest lawsuit against law enforcement. "I'm tired of police forces thinking they are above the Constitution, the Bill of Rights," he said. "Like the whole time, he was just really rude… It just felt to me like his goal was to get me in jail."

In a statement, Casey Bruce-White, a spokesperson for The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), criticized the department for wasting resources on dealing with such a minor matter. "Shouldn't police officers spend their time serving and protecting communities and not pulling Floridians over for speech that is already protected by the First Amendment?" Brice-White said. "Using the excuse that a child would see and ask questions about this particular bumper sticker is absurd."

Anne Schindler of First Coast News on Thursday revealed that Webb's attorney suggested a possible lawsuit may be filed against the Columbia County Sheriff's Office in due time. "Now we transition from defense to offense. The First Amendment was our defense. What is Sheriff Hunter's defense? We will find out!" she quoted Webb's attorney as saying in a tweet.