Recently released police video showing the aggressive arrest of a 61-year-old woman for using a provocative costume to make a political point is reigniting debate over the First Amendment and the limits of free expression.
The footage shows grandmother Jeana Renea Gamble at a “No Kings” protest in Fairhope, Alabama standing in an American flag-draped penis inflatable costume while holding a sign that read, “No Dick Tator” — a visual jab aimed at President Donald Trump that disturbed someone in the conservative coastal town enough to call police on Oct. 18.
The police bodycam video from her arrest cuts on as Col. Andrew Babb of the Fairhope Police Department approaches Gamble and tells her that her costume would not be tolerated in a “family town” that “has values.”
“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you,” Babb says in the video. “If my kids came by here to see this, how would I explain this?”
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Gamble asks the officer if he was recording, then says, “Am I being detained? If not, I’m going to go ahead and go,” and turns and begins to walk away.
Babb grabbed the back of her costume, pulled her to the ground and was joined by two more officers who helped to pin down and handcuff the still-puffy costumed woman and awkwardly stuff her into a police car, as onlookers yelled “That’s absurd!” and “What law did she break?”
The scene was outlandish enough to gain the attention of late night comedian Stephen Colbert, who poked fun at the spectacle in his monologue.
Gamble was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors, and could face up to nine months in jail and fines up to $3,500, the Alabama Reflector reported.
After the arrest, Fairhope Police posted a statement on Facebook that said, “The officer approached the woman and requested that she remove the costume, which is deemed obscene in a public setting; however, she refused to comply.”
Fairhope’s Mayor Sherry Sullivan said while people have the right to protest and express themselves, the city expects “all protest(s) to be peaceful” and should not include material viewed as profane or obscene, Al.com reported.
Gamble’s lawyers counter that she was engaged in a political protest, activity protected by the First Amendment, and further that her costume was not obscene (as some expressions of obscenity are not protected under federal law).
“Ms. Gamble’s costume, taken in conjunction with her ‘No dick-tator’ sign, is clearly and undeniably a political statement, not some sexually explicit attempt to appeal to prurient interests,” they argued in a brief supporting a motion to dismiss the case filed on Nov. 19. “Political speech is at the very core of the First Amendment. No speech is entitled to greater protection. It need not be bland or vanilla. It can even be offensive to some.”
The protest in downtown Fairhope that Gamble participated in was one of 2,600 “No Kings” demonstrations protesting President Donald Trump’s administration on that day.
The brief also notes that political expression should be protected like other controversial or offensive speech, such as parades featuring Nazis marching through a town of Holocaust survivors, Ku Klux Klan cross burnings, and protestors destroying flags, which are legally permitted.
Gamble’s attorneys question the arresting “officer’s delicate sensibilities” and ask, “Who would suffer more trauma and be more offended — Would it be the Jewish resident of Skokie, survivors of concentration camps … Do the feelings of the fragile families of Fairhope facing a fabric phallus compare?”
They also argue that the woman who was confined in an inflatable costume did not resist arrest, and wasn’t capable of doing so. “She could barely see or move,” the filing says.
“So much BDE it needed 3 cops,” noted one commenter among 1,500 about the police arrest video YouTube. “I hope legit she’s ok and gets the charges dropped.”
“It’s nuts!” joked another.
“Another HARDENED criminal,” chimed in one tongue-in-cheek observer, while one man concluded, “This is both infuriating and hilarious!”
Gamble is now considering a civil rights lawsuit against the city, her attorney David Gespass, who specializes in representing victims of police misconduct, told Al.com this week. That decision, he said, is pending the outcome of the criminal case, which will be heard on March 4 in Fairhope Municipal Court before Judge Haymes Snedeker, a longtime municipal judge.
