A 75-year-old South Carolina man with a prosthetic leg ended up in handcuffs after telling a local cop to shut the bathroom door when using it.
Bobby Ray Phillips said he was trying to enjoy his lunch at the Standpipe Family Restaurant in Greenville in Belton when local cop Thaddeus Shockley walked in and used the restroom with the door wide open.
Although it is not clear from the Greenville News article what exactly Shockley was doing in the bathroom, he did not take too kindly to Phillips yelling at him to shut the door “in a boisterous manner” as he described in his report.
He also did not take too kindly to another diner recording him as he tried to handcuff Phillips, who was insistent on finishing his meal.
“Ma’am, do I need to take that phone from you?” Phillips can be heard saying to Cindy Young in her 12-second video before she turns off her camera.
Phillips, who has difficulty hearing, acknowledges he tends to speak loudly, but says he was only trying to enjoy his grilled chicken, cabbage and cornbread without the bathroom smell permeating his nostrils.
He was ultimately issued a $257 citation for disorderly conduct. But only after handcuffing and releasing him four separate times, including twice inside the restaurant and twice outside.
According to the Greenville News:
Shockley said in his report that he asked Phillips for identification after Phillips made another comment about the bathroom door.
“All I said to him was close that bathroom door,” Phillips said in an interview at his home on Wednesday. “I said, ‘You left that door open, I’m eating here. Leave that scent in there, right?”
Shockley, in his report, said Phillips declined to show his ID and also declined to go outside. Shockley wrote that he attempted to assist Phillips, but he held onto his chair and became “defiant.”
Phillips said he was loud, as he always is due to his hearing difficulties, but does not believe he was aggressive or that he did anything to warrant being put in handcuffs or being ticketed. He said he told the officer he could not hear and asked him to write down his questions.
Belton Police Chief Robert Young told the Greenville News that ordering the woman to shut off her camera is “problematic” and has ordered an internal investigation.
The 12-second video is not the greatest quality but it does capture the cop telling her to turn off her camera.
