An Illinois woman accused of assaulting a police officer with a sex toy says she only picked up a dildo to protect herself.
Carolee Bildsten, 57, says her arrest in November for allegedly hitting a cop with a "clear, rigid feminine pleasure device" was anything but pleasurable.
"I got a little bit afraid," she told TribLocal.com in a lengthy interview. "I got scared. And the only thing in my sock drawer besides my socks and my cash was a dildo."
Police say Carolee Bildsten, 56, attempted to strike a cop with a sex toy on Nov 9. The Gurnee, Ill. resident was confronted by an officer after allegedly walking out on her bill at a restaurant. The cop escorted her home to retrieve cash, and that's when Bildsten reportedly whipped out a "clear, rigid feminine pleasure device" and approached the cop in a "threatening manner." But Bildsten insists she was acting in self defense.
She admits having a meal and wine at Joe's Crab Shack on Nov. 9, but she swears she didn't just walk out on the check, as police reports indicated.
Instead, Bildsten says she "wanted to travel light" by leaving her purse at home, but she realized she forgot her credit card only after finishing her meal.
"I sheepishly told the bartender that I didn't have any money with me but that I lived nearby, so I was going to run home and get money," said Bildsten, who also disputed reports that she had recently committed a similar dine-and-ditch at the restaurant.
When she couldn't find a taxi, Bildsten says she began walking home. Partly due to a broken foot and partly due to her "intoxication," Bildsten says she tripped and fell during the walk -- and that's when police found her lying on a patch of grass near the Six Flags Great America amusement park.
An officer told Bildsten she must either pay the bill or face arrest, and he offered to give her a ride home.
Inside her residence, Bildsten says she got nervous because she remembered an article about a local police officer who had been convicted of sexual assault.
"I'm counting my cash to make sure I take out enough, and the officer walks into my bedroom and startles me," she said.
That's when she raised the dildo in what she calls a "defensive move."
But Bildsten insists she never struck the officer.
"I did not assault him. I'm not guilty of that," she said. "I simply was defending myself."
