Robert Buckner Mississippi man calls cops on Tyler Brodsky Oklahoma dad taking two young daughters to female restroom at QuikTrip gas station in Alabama as TikTok video of confrontation goes viral as social media debates whether the concerned customer had gone overboard along with protocol and etiquette when it comes to entering or using bathrooms other than one’s own born gender.
A dad taking his two young daughters into a women’s restroom at an Alabama gas station over the weekend had cops called on him.
Tyler Brodsky was traveling back to Oklahoma from Florida when he stopped at a QuikTrip in Alabama so his daughters could use the bathroom, according to a now-viral TikTok video the dad posted Monday.
Brodsky said he took the girls into an empty women’s restroom as opposed to bringing them into the men’s room.
A father takes his two young daughters into an empty women’s restroom during a road trip because they need to go. A stranger starts yelling, calls the police…
Who was actually in the wrong here?
Protecting your children or enforcing restroom rules at all costs? pic.twitter.com/FFh8cExD4M
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 16, 2026
Define correct protocol and etiquette using public restrooms
‘I’d rather do that than bring two little girls into a men’s bathroom full of grown men and dirty stalls,’ Brodsky wrote in the caption of the TikTok.
Matters came to the fore when the dad was confronted by Robert Buckner of Mississippi after claiming his wife and ‘very ill’ mother-in-law reported coming across a male inside the women’s restroom.
Video showed the angry customer arguing with Brodsky and calling the police as the dad helped his daughters wash their hands in the restroom.
‘There is a man with two little girls using the women’s bathroom,’ Buckner told 911. ‘He’s washing his hands with his daughters right now.’
By this point Brodsky’s two young daughters had begun crying leading to a QuikTrip worker intervening and, shutting the door on the customer, and apologized to Brodsky and his girls.
Buckner chastised Brodsky saying he should have let a female QuikTrip worker take the children into the female bathroom and that the dad had ‘no business’ in the women’s bathroom.
Social media piles on
Buckner has since been identified on social media as the proprietor of Lights and Ballasts MS, with commentors now questioning whether his concern for the well being of the two young girls was bordering on intimidation and harassment. Others wondered if the customer needed to be outed
Stated one user, ‘The guy is obviously a jerk but why are we doxxing him?
Responded another, ‘I love, when the internet is doing its own magic.’
In a follow-up TikTok on Tuesday, Brodsky said three police officers responded and told him he had done nothing wrong.
‘The officers let me know I was OK, I didn’t do anything wrong,’ he said.
‘Taking two little girls into the men’s restroom could be viewed as negatively as me going to the women’s restroom with my girls,’ he added.
Parents dealing with public conundrums
Brodsky said officers eventually asked the other man to leave the gas station.
‘The officers ultimately asked the man to leave the store,’ he said. ‘What happened next is what I’ll remember the most.
‘The officers came, talked to my girls, made sure they felt safe. They put a good image of police officers for my girls growing up. The QuikTrip employees gave my girls free ices, which is very kind of them.’
Brodsky said his daughters are now ‘safe, happy, and doing great’ and added that the online response showed him that many parents and caregivers have faced similar situations.
‘This video brought to my attention something bigger than this incident,’ the dad said. ‘I’ve received thousands of messages from moms, grandparents, caregivers who have been in similar situations.
“This isn’t about one argument in a gas station. It’s about the fact that parents are often put in situations that aren’t comfortable. We’re simply trying to take care of our children and keep them safe.”
‘As a dad with two little girls, I made the decision that I felt was best in the moment,’ the parent continued. ‘I want to be clear about something: I don’t support anyone harassing anyone involved.
‘I’m simply sharing what happened to my family and I hope the man that did this will come across this video and realize what he did was wrong and not do it to anyone else.’
‘Hopefully it’ll bring attention to people that feel the need to berate a mom or dad trying to take care of their kids,’ he added.
