A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer who spent more than a month behind bars for posting a meme quoting President Donald Trump has been released after prosecutors dropped the felony charge against him.

Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tenn., was arrested late September and charged with threatening mass violence at a school, a felony under a 2024 state law. The charge stemmed from a meme he shared in a local Facebook group following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The meme featured an image of Trump with the caption: “We have to get over it,” referencing the president’s response to a school shooting in Perry, Iowa, earlier this year. Bushart added the line, “This seems relevant today.”

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