The Intercept and Nashville’s CBS affiliate NewsChannel 5 obtained body camera footage from the Lexington cop that undermined Weems’ account. The footage made it clear that the officer did not understand why the Perry County sheriff took issue with Bushart’s Facebook post.
“So I’m going to be completely honest with you,” the cop told Bushart. “I really have no idea what they’re talking about. He had just called me and told me there were some disturbing messages posted…”
Bushart clarified that these were probably his Facebook posts, scoffing at the idea that someone called the cops to report his meme. The Lexington officer told Bushart he wasn’t sure “exactly what” Facebook post “they were referring to you” but “they said something insinuated violence.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Bushart replied, confirming that “I’m not going to take it down.”
The officer, refusing to even glance at the Facebook post, told Bushart, “I don’t care. It has nothing to do with me.” But the officer’s indifference didn’t stop Lexington police from stopping Bushart, arresting him and sending him to Weems County, where Bushart was charged “under a state law passed in July 2024 that makes it a class E felony to make threats against schools,” The Tennessean reported.
“Just to clarify, this is what they charged you with,” a Perry County Jail officer — who was recorded on footage reviewed by The Intercept — told Bushart, “Threat of mass violence at a school.”
“In a school?” asked Bushart.
“I have no idea,” the officer replied, laughing. “I just have to do what I have to do.”
“I’ve been in Facebook prison, but now I’m really in it,” Bushart said, joining in on the laughs.
The cops knew the meme wasn’t a threat
Lexington police told The Intercept that Weems lied when he told local media that forces had “coordinated” to offer Bushart a chance to delete the post before his arrest. Confronted with the body camera footage, Weems denied lying, saying his investigator’s report must have been inaccurate, NewsChannel 5 reported.
Weems later admitted to NewsChannel 5 that “investigators knew the meme was not about Perry County High School” and still called for Bushart’s arrest, supposedly in hopes of allaying “the fears of people in the community who misinterpreted it.” This is as close as Weems comes to admitting that his intention was to censor the post.
