MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man was arrested New Year’s Day after police say he was seen walking around a KFC parking lot with his private parts exposed.
Lakisha Tate said she and her sister had gone to the KFC on Poplar near Danny Thomas after getting off work.
“The food that we wanted wasn’t ready so the lady asked us to pull around to the parking lot,” Tate said.
But what she saw minutes later would end up spoiling her appetite.
“I looked up and it was this man that was exposing himself, ejaculating constantly,” Tate said.
Police identify him as 30-year-old Michael Birdsong. He has a history of trespassing at the gas station across the street and WREG has learned he’s been accused of exposing himself before.
“When he saw us looking, that’s when he really started playing with himself and laughing,” Tate said.
He wasn’t laughing when Tate called police. She said he took off running as soon as officers arrived.
“He almost got hit by, like, four or five cars, but MPD did a great job. They were on his butt,” she said.
He then ran inside the Wendy’s bathroom where he tried to keep officers at bay by pushing his bodyweight up against the door.
Officers were able to get the door open and, after a brief struggle, took the suspect into custody.
However, a look at Birdsong’s record indicates he never stays in jail for long.
WREG discovered at least 25 convictions since 2007 (mainly for trespassing, but there was also an indecent exposure conviction in 2017).
There was also another time in 2017 that Birdsong was accused of exposing himself to multiple women and then hitting a man over the head with a metal pipe. Those charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, but Tate hopes Birdsong has a harder time beating these latest charges.
“I have five daughters and just to know that things like that happen, it was really terrifying,” she said.
Birdsong was charged with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, evading arrest, indecent exposure and obstruction of a highway or passageway.
He’s due in court Thursday morning. At last check, he had two different bonds set which add up to $600.