“I’m serious as a heart attack,” he tells Gamble when the audio begins to play on the 14-minute body camera video. “I’m not gonna sit here and argue with you.”

He demands to know how she could possibly justify such an obscene display: “I would like to hear how you would explain to my children what you’re supposed to be.”

Talking to a colleague over his two-way radio after the encounter, Babb described what happened. Gamble was dressed “like a freakin’ weiner,” he says on the tape, so he ordered her to remove the costume. She refused, invoking her First Amendment rights.

“Am I being detained?” Gamble repeatedly asks Babb, who ignores the question and continues to scold her. “If I’m not being detained, I’m gonna go ahead and leave.”

When she turns to walk away, Babb steps forward and grabs her costume from behind, throwing her on her back. Angry protesters shout at Babb as he forces her to turn over. Two more cops help him pin Gamble on the grass and handcuff her.

“By the time I got there, the cops were stuffing an inflatable penis in the back of their car,” Rae said.

It was, on one hand, hilarious — a slapstick comedy bit brought to life. In the body camera footage, Babb tries and fails to fit Gamble into his own backseat, then hands her off to another officer, who escorts her to a different vehicle. Police wrestle with the oversized costume, ultimately failing to fit the unwieldy polyester penis into the car.

It was also disturbing. Gamble screams in pain in the video as the cops try to push her into the backseat, the handcuffs digging into her wrists. Babb asks where the zipper is and, as he peels off the penis suit, asks Gamble for her name.

She replies, “Aunt Tifa.”

    • MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      You’re not wrong, but this isn’t a prudism problem. It’s more like a “if it offends YOU, you’re a snowflake, but if it offends ME, then you’re under arrest” problem.

      She turned her back on a cop and walked away. No better way to get arrested than to remind them how small they really are.

    • 6stringringer@lemmy.zip
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      6 hours ago

      We need more nekkid people just showing up where ever. Everyone listen up. Hide your face, get undressed, protest hard. Run away quickly & put clothes on. Then ditch the mask. How in the hell is anyone really going to notice any facial features. You are all welcome. I may be the only one that follows through. However, I have tje utmost faith in this minimalist approach. As long as the weather is cooperative btw.