Benzaquin had a radio talk show in Boston. On the program, he complained about an incident earlier in the day, in which state trooper Fleming had stopped his car, apparently for lack of a proper license plate and safety sticker. Even though Benzaquin explained that the license plate had been stolen and the sticker had fallen onto the dashboard, Fleming refused to let him drive the car away, and Benzaquin and his daughter and two young grandsons had to find other transportation. On the show, Benzaquin angrily recounted the incident, then made the following statements about Fleming and troopers generally:

“arrogants wearing troopers’ uniforms like tights”; “little monkey, you wind him up and he does his thing”; “we’re not paying them to be dictators and Nazis”; “this man is an absolute barbarian, a lunkhead, a meathead.” Fleming sued Benzaquin for defamation. Comment.