I’ve been harassed by cops who were sure that my being barefoot in government buildings was illegal. I have a friend who actually was arrested by a cop because that cop thought it was illegal to be in a grocery store while barefoot. (He was acquitted.)
Just what is it about some cops?
I’m writing here about something that actually took place a couple of months ago, but I just haven’t written up yet. It’s also not (directly) about barefooting, even though the person involved was barefoot at the time of its occurrence. What I find interesting, though, is how the cops reacted, and just how similar that is to what barefooters have sometimes had to go through with cops.
I mentioned that this happened to a barefooted person. The problem wasn’t that she was barefooted — she was bare-breasted.
It was all part of an event called Ocularpation, organized by an artist named Zefrey Throwell. The idea was to “expose” Wall Street, by having various performers do routine jobs while naked. There were 50 people signed up, and they “worked” at various jobs from the Wall Street area such as office worker, or hot dog walker, or dog-walker. You can read the New York Times story here.
Our intrepid heroine was the dog-walker. Well, actually, an invisible-dog walker:
Ocularpation Dog-Walking
Now, the thing you need to know is that it is perfectly legal for women in New York (the whole state) to be topfree. That was established way back in 1992 in People v. Santorelli. Yet, women in New York regularly get arrested for it, and then the city has to pay off false arrest lawsuits.
A few quick asides:
In the nudist/naturist community, “topfree” is preferred over “topless”. “Topless” often has the connotation of the sexually-charged atmosphere of topless bars. “Topfree” is meant to convey women going without a top in a non-sexual way, just as men do.
Being topfree is legal in more places than you might think. It’s legal here in Ohio where I live, and the city of Columbus has also had to settle false arrest lawsuits when topfree women were arrested.]
Continuing the story . . .
You can read Felicity’s account here. What interests me is the story of the cop:
Officer, putting on the handcuffs- “Here you go, is that what you wanted??”
Me- “No…”
Officer- “What is all this going on?”
Me- “It’s an art performance.”
Officer- “This isn’t art, this is retarded!”
Me- “That’s subjective…Isn’t it legal for me to be topless anywhere in NYC?”
Officer- “Yeah right what do you think you’re doin’ walkin around topless like you’re walking a dog. You need to come with me and be mentally evaluated, then after that maybe you’ll be free to go. It’s retarded, this is just stupid pretending to walk a dog with no shirt on. There are children around.” (I did not see one child during this performance.)
Me- “Sometimes people pretend to do things in art…”
It’s just an example of how cops can (and ofttimes do) decide that something is illegal and arrest you. It can apply to being bare-breasted, and it can apply to being barefooted. And once they’ve decided, there’s not a darn thing you can do about it. It also shows that, quite often, the cops are quite unaware of just what the law is.
Another thing it demonstrates is how cops will cover up afterwards, or find some other way to justify their actions. Felicity was arrested (originally) for public indecency. However, when the cop got her back to the station, the charge magically morphed into that catch-all “disorderly conduct”.
That is also what happened to my friend who got arrested for being barefooted. After he disputed that it was illegal for him to be in the store barefooted, the cop then frog-marched him out of the building and arrested him, instead, for criminal trespass (because he had not left quickly enough, according to her). The final straw was when he refused to leave the parking lot because his wife and child were still inside the store.
When I got frog-marched out of the Franklin County Courthouse, that cop threatened me with arrest for criminal trespass if I did come back in barefoot. Again, he was absolutely convinced that it was illegal for me to be in there barefoot. It wasn’t. He also refused to listen to anything I had to say about it.
The thing is, I was there to file a brief in a lawsuit I was involved with, and I had to file the paper that day. So I went back in through a different door, stayed on different floors, and got my brief filed. Later, I wrote a stiff letter to the Building Manager saying that I would be filing another brief in about a week, and if I did get arrested, I really would be filing a false arrest lawsuit. The Building Manager wrote me a nice apology (particularly after I met with their Deputy Director — wore suit & tie & shoes for that one).
Finally, let me say that I have nothing against police officers. I know quite a few and they are nice guys and gals. But there are a few . . .
Thank you for writing this article, I loved it! That’s so interesting about barefoot arrests. Incredible how they can decide its illegal to be barefoot! Its going to be interesting for me to see what story that cop comes up with as to why he arrested me. From our interaction, yeah it was pretty clear he simply didn’t like me being topfree! It’s totally true that some cops just decide something is illegal and cuff you right then.
Great article.
I admire how you wrote a letter and confronted it though! People shouldn’t have to go through all this when they haven’t broken any laws! All because a cop decides they have.
In any case thank you for sharing my story!
-Felicity
“Again, he was absolutely convinced that it was illegal for me to be in there barefoot.”
Young cops today, especially those who work far from coastal areas probably never saw someone walking barefoot in public in their entire lives. Not in a store, not even just walking down the street. And they know nothing of the recent past – no one teaches them cultural history and the changes that have happened. But anyone who was a cop even 25 or 30 years ago, would have seen great numbers of barefoot people in public during his lifetime as a cop, while on duty and when off duty. This would have been just ordinary and the cop would not have paid any attention to anything like that, unless it was maybe in the middle of a snowy winter and he thought the person needed help.
But I guess it depends what part of the US you live in. Here in florida – 2 weeks ago, as I was going into a supermarket, 5 young people, 3 guys and 2 girls, early 20s, walked in wearing only bathing suits, the guys with no shirts or shoes, the girls also barefoot and wearing only the skimpiest bikinis. They did their shopping and left. No one paid any attention to them. And last week, there were 3 barefoot women in there, no one paid any attention, even though there is a standard ‘shirts and shoes required’ sign on all these supermarkets. So a cop working here would hardly think this was all that weird. Context and location is everything. Relocate all that to the midwest and it will raise quite a few eyebrows, i suppose.
What do you expect? In America, sex is viewed as a crime like murder or assault. Look at the stupid Adam & Eve stories we were raised with? Our whole society needs a reformation, and not just in theology.
I have often seen the same thing with police, Many are good and want to do a good job. It is easy for us to forget they are human, but it is equally easy for them to do the wrong thing. Improper arrest being high on the list.
I hope that Felicity sees my response.
I am equally concerned that the officer used the language “This is retarded.” While I do not have any mental deficiencies of my own, I know people with various disorders. The word retarded was at one point used for many things. All of which have come to be known by more politically correct terms.
The only correct meaning of mentally retarded literally meant that the brain functions were slowed from “normal” development and/or that the person’s IQ was lower than a certain threshold.Even this usage has gone by the wayside.
However, the officer’s use of the word retarded was insulting to all of the above. His derogatory use of the word is no different than “the N word” for people of Afican American heritage, the “W word” for those of Italian heritage, etc. Those words have become politically incorrect for the same reason that his use of the word retarded is incorrect. It is meant in a derogatory way.
I am very surprised that NYC has not learned its lesson. The city of New York has had several lawsuits about topfree arrests. This officer is just the latest. In his case, he did not stop there. I hope Felicity has the resources and the fortitude that could be needed.
Joe