Twenty-eight-year-old Riddhi Patel created a furor during a Bakersfield, CA City Council meeting when she threatened the council while calling for them to pass a resolution in favor of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Patel (who some outlets have reported identifies is "non-binary") made a couple of comments that have earned her some big consequences. She called them all "horrible people" and said, "Jesus probably would have killed you himself." She added that in the "global south," some believed in "violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day someone brings the guillotine and kills all of you motherf**kers."
Then she made an even more direct comment as she criticized them for increasing the security for the meetings and having metal detectors, "You guys want to criminalize us with metal detectors? We'll see you at your house. We'll murder you." Of course, the whole point of the metal detectors was not to criminalize anyone but to keep everyone safe because the council was concerned about threats. She basically proved they were right to be concerned.
What she said did not go over well with the Mayor Karen Goh and the council. Goh deemed it a threat. She then had the police escort Patel out, and she was arrested.
Now there's video of Patel at a hearing where she heard the charges against her. She faces eight counts of threatening a public official and ten counts of making terroristic threats. Her reaction at the hearing was quite different than her ranting at the city council meeting.
She was in tears and breaking down during the proceeding.
She found out, perhaps contrary to what she thought, that sometimes there are consequences to actions. I doubt the tears are for what she did -- they're likely because she's just upset that she was arrested.
Her reaction in the court got a lot of attention on X, with most people saying she futzed around and she found out, including Megyn Kelly and Tomi Lahren:
Patel remains in jail, her bond was set at $1 million, and she'll have a further hearing next week.
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