DALE COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — Skipperville father Reginald Burks received the news on Wednesday that he would not be sent to jail on June 4th

But he said that he should have never been put in the position.

“I feel like they embarrassed the heck out of me I had to go through all of this,” Burks said. “It should have never happened in the first place.”

Back in December, Burks was pulled over for speeding in a 25-mile-per-hour zone while taking his daughter to school.

According to Burks, the officer did not use a radar gun to measure his speed.

Shortly after, Burks said the officer would not move from in front of his car leading to the two having a few choice words.

“I asked him one time to move nicely so I’m like hey sir can you get the hell out the way?” He said. “Get your a** out the way so that we can go.”

When going to pay his ticket, the Dale County man found out that he was being forced to apologize to the police officer.

“I said what, I’m not apologizing I’ll just pay my ticket and go on about my business,” Burks said. “They said no, the judge will speak to you.”

According to Burks’s attorney, David Harrison, Judge Nicholas Bull held the lawyer’s client in the courtroom for over two hours until Burks apologized.

Bull later gave Burks the decision to apologize to the Ozark officer by June 4th or spend 30 days in jail.

Harrison said that in over 30 years of work, he has never experienced anything like this–and says his client did nothing wrong.

“Actually, you can say anything you want to to a police officer as long as it’s not inciting violence that’s not the case here,” He said. “This man clearly said something that you hear everyday.”

After months of not budging the Dale County Court ultimately decided to not punish Burks for refusing to apologize.

While he is no longer facing jail time, Burks and Harrison are continuing to fight this case.

According to Harrison, the two are fighting to gain pain and suffering compensation as well as compensation for lost wages.

The lawyer said they are receiving help from “The Institute for Justice” a non-profit organization aimed to fight for civil rights cases.

“They’ve reached out to us and we’re consulting with them to make a decision on exactly what to bring a lot of times when you have situations with government officials they have immunity and it’s hard to attack it,” Harrison said. “This organization that’s their expertise and they are looking at ways that we can make the situation right for Mr. Burks.”

Burks said that he feels that his charges were only dropped due to media backlash and to prevent Harrison and Burks from further fighting the case.

We have reached out to Judge Nicholas Bull for comment but have not received one at this time.

We will bring you any updates online and on-air.

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