An Oregon man raged at a police officer during a disagreement over state laws permitting public nudity in front of children.
Thomas Collins, a father from Bend, Oregon, filmed the heated confrontation after a naked stranger allegedly walked onto his property in front of his two-year-old son.
The video, which racked up more than 800,000 views since it was posted on June 4, begins in the middle of Collins’ conversation with Officer Jeremy Avery of the Bend Police Department.
‘You’re saying in the state of Oregon, someone can walk up to your two-year-old kid completely bare naked and that’s not a crime, even if it’s on your property?’ Collins demands.
‘Correct. Well – so, it’s trespassing, but what I’m saying is there’s no laws against the actual nudity portion of it,’ Avery responds.
Thomas Collins filmed his heated confrontation with a Bend, Oregon police officer after a naked stranger allegedly walked onto his property in front of his two-year-old son
Collins professed that police ‘literally do nothing’ and insisted that public nudity was a crime
As Collins continues to press him, Avery clarifies that people can ‘walk around in public, naked, on private property’ as long as they aren’t ‘doing it for sexual gratification.’
Collins then steps into frame.
‘On private property – this is where I live, and someone just came and exposed themselves to my two-year-old boy, and this officer’s saying that it’s not a crime,’ the father seethes.
He asserts that a bare-naked stranger approached his two-year-old son before he ‘ran over to him and covered his eyes so he wouldn’t see.’
‘My obvious thought is to call 911, as someone’s indecently exposing themselves to my child on my property,’ Collins continues.
‘At what point did this become a normal and acceptable thing to do? The cops will literally do nothing about it.
‘They’re basically saying we have to wait for that person to do something more serious to your kid before we can intervene.’
Collins said he was forced to run over to his son and ‘(cover) his eyes so he wouldn’t see’
Despite Collins’ fury, public nudity is broadly legal under Oregon state law, which takes precedence in the city of Bend
Public nudity is broadly legal under Oregon law, but different cities and counties may have their own regulations.
In Portland, for example, Title 14 of the city code makes it illegal for ‘any person to expose his or her genitalia while in a public place…if the public place is open or available to persons of the opposite sex.’
However, the conversation doesn’t stop there, as the city hosts an annual nude bike ride that is legally permissible.
Nudity as a form of protest is guarded under state law, and organizers insist they are striving to draw attention to the issues of bike safety and pollution.
Municipal code in the city of Eugene closely mirrors Portland’s public nudity law, with a specific stipulation barring any person eight years of age or older from exposing their genitalia in public.
However, the city of Bend does not have a particular ordinance against nudity, meaning Oregon law is Bend law.
As Avery explained, simply walking around without clothing is not considered public indecency – rather, it is a person’s behavior that matters.
To be held in violation of Oregon state law, a person must engage in sexual intercourse, masturbation, or expose their genitalia ‘with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person.’
Officer Jeremy Avery conceded that trespassing was a crime, although public nakedness was not
Some viewers pointed out that cops like Avery simply enforce the law as it is written.
‘Brother calling him worthless but the dude can’t just falsely arrest a person,’ one user remarked.
Others encouraged Collins to read up on local laws and lobby lawmakers to make a change.
The Bend man landed in the news last year for a viral video in which he argued that skyrocketing prices couldn’t be explained simply by inflation.
In a clip posted January 9, 2023, Collins claimed the prices of products like bulk lentils, flour, and butter had swelled by more than 50 percent since he purchased them a year prior.
Much of his newer content centers on the proliferation of AI bot accounts on Facebook and Instagram.