A mother said she was harassed and kicked out of an Oklahoma amusement park last month after her shorts were deemed “too short.”
Bailey Breedlove explained in a May 3 Facebook post that an officer at Frontier City, which is part of Six Flags, confronted her on April 30 after her daughter rode down a hill at the park while wearing wheeled shoes.
“Then she proceeded to follow me and grabbed my shoulder to turn me around and proceeded to tell me my shorts were ‘too short,'” she wrote. “I committed no crime and proceeded to walk to my boyfriend as I am autistic and have a hard time talking to officers. She followed me yelling and calling for backup. Then your incompetent manager showed up and began body shaming me.”
The theme park told a different story.
“The guest was initially stopped because her shorts exposed a significant portion of her buttocks,” the park said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “She was given multiple opportunities to change or cover up, but refused. Instead, she responded with profanity and offensive conduct, including further exposing her buttocks.”
Breedlove said she was told by park officials that she would need to buy shorts to remain in the park. She added that when she agreed to buy the new shorts, she was “threatened with criminal trespassing” and escorted to the entrance of the park. Breedlove added that when she and her family were about to leave, she was blocked by an officer who pulled out her handcuffs and demanded identification.
“When we asked for probable cause their answer was ‘because they are the police,'” she said. “At this point we started recording so we do have video of the unlawful tactics. They wouldn’t provide us with badge numbers and I was terrified I was about to go to jail over a pair of shorts.”
Video of the incident appears to show an official of the park, not an officer, asking for identification.
“I am asking for your information so that I can issue a criminal trespass,” the person said.
“The guest was removed from the park after she refused to stop her unruly and offensive behavior, targeted at the police and other park guests,” the park said. “The video clip this guest has posted on the internet does not fully portray her behavior during this incident.”
https://www.facebook.com/100000892997490/videos/4116674775038915/
Frontier City is located in Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma County Sheriff Department confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the woman in the video whose shirt said “police” was not one of their officers. It is possible that the woman worked for a neighboring police department.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Six Flags for more information on what agency employed the woman. The company said she was an “off-duty law enforcement officer” but did not specify what agency she works for or whether charges were filed against the woman.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said the woman would not have received charges from its department, given that the officer did not work for them. The Oklahoma County Sheriff Department did not comment on possible charges.
