Carlos Barria/REUTERS
A Kentucky Senate committee advanced a bill that would make it a crime to insult a police officer.
The offense would be punishable with a $250 fine or a temporary loss of public assistance benefits.
Opponents say the bill violates freedom of speech and is a step towards quashing lawful protests.
A Kentucky Senate committee on Thursday advanced a bill that would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer to the level that it could elicit a response during a riot, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Senate Bill 211 would allow for up to three months of imprisonment for an individual who accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words or initiates gestures or other physical contact that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response from the perspective of a reasonable and prudent person.