“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.”
I’d love to see this - but not for this situation. Totally pointless. Counter-productive.
Cops got her on disorderly conduct, after the fact. Jt’s a bullshit charge. They had nothing to charge her with otherwise.
But she’s got a civil rights violation lawsuit in the bag. She’s clearly heard repeating “Am I being detained?” The officer didn’t answer and then used physical force to bring her down.
And even outside the law, the court of public opinion matters. Starting a riot by beating the shit out of a cop might not look so good. It’s 20 on 1, and he could get disoriented and fire into the crowd.
But, for the record, if you are EVER dressed as a life-sized penis and a cop asks “What am I supposed to tell my kids?”, you should answer “Tell them Trump is a dick.”
Because that’s an honest answer and there’s nothing inherently sexual about this situation. Half the world has penises, there’s naked statues and painting and pics of penises in every culture around the world. Kids can handle it.