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Kmart item almost lands Aussie lawyer in a US jail cell

An Australian TikTok personality has blamed a $9 Kmart product for nearly getting her arrested while at a Casino in the United States.

Monique Tavares, a lawyer from Sydney, took to her social media account to share her horror after she was stopped by security guards in Cleveland, as reported by Seven News.

“I go to the casino, it's my first time there [and] I sign in with my Australian passport,” the fiancé of NBA G League player Didi Louzada wrote online, adding that she was “new to the city.”

Monique Tavares with the Kmart camera tripod in her TikTok video.
An Aussie lawyer has revealed the $9 Kmart item that almost got her arrested in the US. Source: Seven News/TikTok

“I'm walking around for like one to two minutes, like just having a look around and I was like, I'll just grab my Starbucks and then I'm going to explore the city a little bit.”

It was then that she ran into trouble.

‘They thought it was a gun’

“I'm walking around and I get approached by two police officers,” she explains. “[They said,] excuse me ma'am, we have a reason to believe that you're concealing a weapon on your person."

“I was like, me? A weapon? And I was like, look at the size of my bag, like it's teeny tiny, there's no way I'm concealing a weapon. Like what do you mean?”

But conceding that “this is America,” Monique permitted the officers to carry on with their search.

“Guys,” she said, speaking to her TikTok audience before pulling her jacket back and baggy T-shirt up to reveal an item attached to the top of her jeans. Grabbing the device she opens it up, extending its long legs.

“My camera tripod,” she explained. “Oh my god, they thought it was a gun.”

‘We had a big laugh afterwards’

Monique said she was “mortified” during the exchange but the officers were nice about it.

“We all looked at each other and had a big laugh about it afterwards,” she said. “This would only happen to me.”

Monique Tavares (left) and with her fiancé, NBA star Didi Louzada.
Monique Tavares is engaged to NBA star Didi Louzada. Source: Instagram

The video has since gone viral with the caption, ‘What $9 Kmart item almost got me arrested in the US? We are not in Australia anymore.’ More than 170,000 people have since viewed the clip.

“Your reaction would have been priceless when they approached you,” one person wrote. “Girl this was so funny I can’t believe that happened, I would have been terrified,” said another.

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