These busts in bathrooms have been going on for some time. I worked with an army officer years ago who had this happen to him. The vice people caught him with the same footsie moves known to those seeking sex in public bathrooms. This was in about 1989, so footsie signals are nothing new.
How could a cop justify an arrest based on such things? I assume they’d have to have an entire body of research on that behavior to prove that it is the common signal used to solicit sex in public. They would also have to have local ordinances making such things illegal. I assume all those were in place in Minnesota where Craig was picked up.
On the tapes, the thing that really got my attention was the arresting officer’s insistence that he’d seen Craig’s left hand with his wedding ring on it even though he was in a stall to the right of Craig. The officer was certain because he saw Craig’s ring. How could a man get his left hand under a stall? Only if he turned and stooped or knelt is all I can figure.
Scares the crap out of me that this sort of evidence could be used to arrest a person and ruin their lives.
Just think what you could do with some sort of scenario where police said how you looked right and left walking down the street constituted solicitation or something.. and arrested you. Its insane.
The buzzword is "probable cause based upon [the officer's] knowledge and experience."