Is It Illegal to Drop the ‘F-Bomb’ in Iowa? Arrested Bachelorette/Birthday Girl Wants to Know

If it’s your birthday and your bachelorette party, do the regular rules of decorum apply?

Well, yes, an Urbandale woman learned Saturday night. And while allegedly dropping the “F-Bomb” in a public place like West Des Moines’ tony isn’t technically illegal, public intoxication is.

Stacie Marie Ritz, 35, of 4211 146th St., Urbandale, found that out the hard way.

Officer Curtis Russell told Ritz that she needed to call a cab to drive her and a couple of other friends home from the mall, where they had been drinking to celebrate Ritz's birthday and upcoming wedding.

According to Russell’s report, Ritz was allegedly yelling profanities inside and outside the mall and was “extremely intoxicated.” Mall security had called police about 9:15 p.m. after Ritz reportedly “went over to one of the security officers and put her hands all over him."

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Russell was prepared to let the women go without charging them if they would take a cab, but Ritz allegedly “began to argue and say the word (expletive) multiple times,” Russell wrote in his report. “I advised Ritz that she was in a public place and she needs to stop swearing.”

She didn’t, he said.

Instead, Russell reported that as Ritz and her friends were walking to the taxi, Ritz allegedly punched a stranger in the chest.

That's when Russell lost his patience for the partiers and placed Ritz under arrest. 

While en route to the West Des Moines jail, Ritz “kept stating that she didn’t know using the word (expletive) was a crime," Russell wrote in his report. “While at the jail, Ritz continued to be emotional, as she would yell, then cry and then be normal off and on. Ritz stated that since she was a female, that it was OK for her to be emotional.”

Police have in-car video of the incident.

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