Florida Law Enforcement: Tough on Sagging Pants
Categories: Crime, War on Terror
It's the land of Bernie Madoff, Scott Rothstein, prescription drug overdoses, concealed carry, extortion, Mob money, gang violence, and more... but Florida sheriffs have a new menace on their hands. The case of the sagging pants.
"It's a fashion thing," the Fort Pierce Tribune quotes 27-year-old Antwuane Goodman as saying. Regardless of whether perps wear an extra pair of underwear under their exposed boxers (so they're not technically showing underwear), that city is looking to impose fines or community service for waistlines below a certain point.
It's also an issue down here, with a Wellington family filing a suit against PBSO for an arrest in the Mall at Wellington Green resulting from some ill-fastened drawers. Frantz Leger was 20 in 2007 when he visited the mall with low-hanging pants and received a trespass warning because of his attire. He returned four months later, violating the warning, and was arrested.
You'll never guess what kind of police strength it took to hoist up those pants.
From the Herald: "When family members objected, they were arrested, too, after the agency responded with about 20 deputies, two canine units and a helicopter." (Emphasis ours.) Now Leger's family is suing for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and civil rights violations.
And two years ago, Riviera Beach made the pages of Time magazine for its own saggy-pants ban, which was later overturned by a state circuit court. "Everywhere I went, there was a groundswell, a cry for something to be done for what the community was seeing as disrespect, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, as related to the pants situation," said Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters, an African-American pastor.
Replace "pants situation" with "gang violence" or "high-school dropout rates" and we wouldn't have to get all cheeky with you, Mr. Mayor.
"It's a fashion thing," the Fort Pierce Tribune quotes 27-year-old Antwuane Goodman as saying. Regardless of whether perps wear an extra pair of underwear under their exposed boxers (so they're not technically showing underwear), that city is looking to impose fines or community service for waistlines below a certain point.
It's also an issue down here, with a Wellington family filing a suit against PBSO for an arrest in the Mall at Wellington Green resulting from some ill-fastened drawers. Frantz Leger was 20 in 2007 when he visited the mall with low-hanging pants and received a trespass warning because of his attire. He returned four months later, violating the warning, and was arrested.
You'll never guess what kind of police strength it took to hoist up those pants.
From the Herald: "When family members objected, they were arrested, too, after the agency responded with about 20 deputies, two canine units and a helicopter." (Emphasis ours.) Now Leger's family is suing for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and civil rights violations.
And two years ago, Riviera Beach made the pages of Time magazine for its own saggy-pants ban, which was later overturned by a state circuit court. "Everywhere I went, there was a groundswell, a cry for something to be done for what the community was seeing as disrespect, indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, as related to the pants situation," said Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters, an African-American pastor.
Replace "pants situation" with "gang violence" or "high-school dropout rates" and we wouldn't have to get all cheeky with you, Mr. Mayor.
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