An Illinois man arrested for burning the American flag won a lawsuit against the arresting officers—and celebrated by doing the exact thing that got him arrested in the first place. According to AP, the court awarded 22-year-old Bryton Mellott a settlement this week.
Bryton Mellott was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in his lawsuit for which he will receive $15,000 with the settlement. He will also receive $20,000 for attorneys' fees.
The 22-year-old Mellott's lawsuit was filed against four members of the Urbana Police Department who arrested him on Independence Day 2016 under Illinois' 1989 flag-desecration law. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional that year.
In June, U.S. District Court Judge Colin Bruce ruled burning a flag was constitutionally protected free speech and allowed the lawsuit to continue.
Mellott isn’t one to shy away from controversy, so he celebrated the decision with a post very similar to his July 2016 one.