Can a cop pull you over for flipping them off?
<p>Minard, a police officer in the city of Taylor, Michigan, stopped Cruise-Gulyas in June 2017 for speeding. But he decided to show her leniency and wrote her a ticket for a non-moving violation. As she drove away, Cruise-Gulyas repaid Minard’s kindness by raising her middle finger at him. Minard pulled Cruise-Gulyas over a second time, less than 100 yards from where the initial stop occurred, and amended the ticket to a speeding violation. </p>

<p>So can a cop legally pull you over for flipping him off? Is it a violation of your constitutional rights?</p>

<p>In <a href="http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/19a0043p-06.pdf" rel="noreferrer">that case</a>, Cruise-Gulyas was subject to a second stop, and the court found that the second stop was an illegal seizure. There is no qualified immunity since this was an exercise of a clearly established First Amendment right. The authority to seize her ended when the first stop ended. The finger is not a basis for a stop, since it does not violate any law ("This  ancient  gesture  of  insult  is  not  the  basis  for  a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity", <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6523478197831967865&amp;hl=en&amp;as_sdt=6&amp;as_vis=1&amp;oi=scholarr" rel="noreferrer">Swartz  v.  Insogna</a>,  704  F.3d 105.</p>

first-amendment