NY court: Flipping finger at cops not worth arrest

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals court in New York has reinstated a lawsuit brought by an upstate New York man who sued for malicious prosecution when he was arrested after "giving the finger" to a police officer.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday restored the lawsuit brought by John Swartz and his wife after their May 2006 encounter with police as they drove through the village of St. Johnsville.

A lower court judge in Albany had tossed out their claim after police maintained that Swartz's car was stopped because it was feared that the gesture was a sign of a domestic dispute.

The appeals court said such a conclusion was unreasonable given "the nearly universal recognition that this gesture is an insult."