Driver 'rewarded' for obscene gesture

Scott Schaper wasn’t happy when he got a ticket in Olathe. He struck back by flashing the officer the finger and giving voice to the gesture. That got him another ticket for disorderly conduct. And now it has made him $4,000 richer.

City prosecutors dropped the disorderly conduct ticket and Olathe last week agreed its insurance company would pay $4,000 to Schaper and $1,000 to his lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri.



Yes, it turns out, people can legally use the f-word against police and also extend what the law calls the “digitus impudicus” — the impudent finger.

As part of the out-of-court settlement of Schaper’s civil rights complaint, Olathe police also must train officers to take such abuse.