In a scene that feels ripped straight out of a satirical sketch show, three Alabama police officers were caught on camera tackling a woman dressed as a giant penis during an anti-Trump protest over the weekend.
The surreal footage, shot in Fairhope, quickly spread across social media, showing the 61-year-old demonstrator, Jeana Renea Gamble, being pinned to the ground by police while onlookers yelled, “Leave her alone!”
The protest, part of the “No Kings” rallies held nationwide to push back against Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, took a bizarre turn when local police responded to what they described as complaints about a traffic hazard.
According to a statement from the Fairhope Police Department, an officer arrived on the scene and “observed an individual in a phallic costume.” The statement continues: “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.”
That refusal apparently triggered the dramatic takedown that’s now drawing national attention—and a wave of backlash.
Gamble was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The video shows her not fighting back but rather lying on the pavement as officers struggle to remove the costume. (Watch the video here.)
Protest organizers aren’t buying the official line. In a press release, Indivisible Baldwin County said, “Gamble was peacefully expressing her point of view” and condemned the arrest in no uncertain terms. “Her violent arrest for expressing herself in ways the police found rude is indefensible, morally and legally.”
Whether you think the costume was in poor taste or protected speech, it’s hard to watch the video and not wonder how a comically oversized penis suit managed to become the flashpoint for a physical arrest in broad daylight.
There’s also the lingering question of priorities: Was this really the kind of public threat that required three officers to wrestle a senior citizen to the ground?
For now, Fairhope police are standing by their actions, Gamble is out on bond, and the rest of us are left with a viral clip of cops tackling a protestor dressed as a penis. Only in America.
