AN Illinois woman who was arrested after allegedly attacking a police officer with a sex toy said today she was acting in self-defence.
Carolee Bildsten, 57, was arrested in December for failing to appear at a hearing regarding the November incident, Trib Local said.
She had allegedly charged toward an officer with a ?clear, rigid feminine pleasure device? when the officer went to Ms Bildsten?s apartment after she was accused of skipping out on a restaurant tab.
Employees at Joe?s Crab Shack in Gurnee, located in the Chicago metropolitan area, said Ms Bildsten left the restaurant without paying for a second time. But Ms Bildsten said in an interview today that she had mistakenly left her credit card at home because she ?wanted to travel light? that night.
She said she told the bartender she would retrieve the money at her home and return to pay her bill. Admittedly intoxicated and suffering from a broken foot, Ms Bildsten began walking to her apartment, but tripped and fell on her way home, Trib Local reported.
The officer involved in the incident first encountered Ms Bildsten lying in the grass. Ms Bildsten said he was ?kind enough to take me home,? so she could retrieve her wallet.
According to a police report, once home, Ms Bildsten reached into a dresser drawer for what the officer believed was money to pay the bill, but instead pulled out the sex toy and charged toward the officer. The officer deflected the attack with his hand and was not injured.
But Ms Bildsten told Trib Local toay that she became ?a little bit afraid? when the officer came to her apartment.
She said she had recently read a news article about an officer who was convicted of sexual assault.
?I got scared. And the only thing in my sock drawer besides my socks and my cash was a dildo,? she said.
Ms Bildsten denied she attacked the officer, saying she only ?instinctively raised it up in a defensive move.?
Ms Bildsten, who said she sent a money order the next day to Joe?s Crab Shack to cover her tab, intends to plead not guilty to aggravated assault at a hearing on Thursday at the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan.
