A woman has been arrested for committing lewd acts at a Seattle gym.
23 year-old Daniella Brody was arrested by Seattle police on Friday night at Planet Fitness’s location on Aurora Ave after multiple reports from patrons and staff of inappropriate sexual behavior.
It began when Brody approached a male patron who was in the middle of working out.
“I was in the squat rack doing some curls, when I see this girl coming towards me,” said the male patron, who asked to remain anonymous. “I smiled at her, just trying to be polite, you know? I guess she took that as an invitation for something else.”
The patron said that Brody began touching his arms and his chest. After she refused to stop, the patron threatened to get gym staff involved, and Brody walked away angrily while making obscene remarks.
Witnesses said that Brody then sat down at a bench near the squat racks and took out her phone. Kellie McTavish was working out nearby, and noticed that Brody was recording another male patron doing squats.
“I look over, and this girl has her camera up,” McTavish said. “She was trying to be sneaky and take a video of the guy, but it was so obvious what she was doing.”
When McTavish confronted Brody and asked what she was doing, Brody became aggressive and told McTavish to mind her own business. McTavish alerted gym staff, who kept an eye on Brody.
Gym staff then observed Brody walk up to a leg press machine after a male patron was done using it and sniff the seat.
“It was very creepy,” remarked Jamie Rice, the man who had been using the machine before Brody sniffed it. “When the staff told me what happened, I felt violated. Who does that?”
When a male staff member approached Brody and told her that she was banned from the premises and needed to leave, Brody refused, saying that she did nothing wrong. That’s when gym staff decided to call the police. Within minutes, police arrived at the Planet Fitness and arrested Brody.
Men took to social media to comment on Brody’s behavior.
“Absolutely disgusting,” commented one X user. “Isn’t anywhere safe for men anymore?”
“Men-only gyms when?” remarked another.
Women also spoke out against Brody’s actions.
“It’s hard enough to approach men,” one comment on Instagram read, “Now we have [expletive] like this making us all look bad.”
Another woman agreed, “Yah, perverts like her give women everywhere a bad name.”
However, some women sympathized with Brody. Users at crystal.cafe, a female-centric anonymous internet community, expressed support for Brody’s actions, saying that the men contributed to their own harassment through their actions and clothing.
“If you walk around showing off your body women are going to want to touch it. Who knew?”, one comment read.
“Don’t hang the meat in the window if it’s not for sale”, agreed another commenter.
Some posters openly admitted to sexually harassing men themselves. “I see a boy with a juicy ass, I give it a squeeze. Simple as.”
“Mama spanks bad boys at the gym all the time. The [expletive] they gonna do about it?”
Another poster accused gym staff of sexism.
“Imagine if it was a guy grabbing women’s [expletive]. Nobody would care. A woman does it though and it’s national news. Double standard.”
Seattle police say that Brody is facing charges of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Planet Fitness released a statement praising the actions of gym staff while reaffirming their commitment to the safety of gym-goers.
“Our staff handled the situation within the appropriate guidelines. Planet Fitness remains committed to creating a safe space for everyone to exercise, male and female.”
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