Man Tased, Arrested for Running Naked in Ohio Marathon
Exposure to legal consequences can occur at the drop of, well, a pair of running shorts. Just ask the runner whose naked marathon ended with him arrested and tased by police.
Police tased an Ohio man for running naked during a Cincinnati marathon. Brett Henderson, 35, told police his running shorts fell off inadvertently during the race.
Police were not amused.
Henderson lost his shorts at some point during the marathon - he didn't really provide a good explanation for that one. At first he was focused on finishing the race, as he tried to use his shirt to cover up. When that didn't work, he simply kept running, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
Police ordered Henderson to stop, then ordered him into a patrol car. Henderson just kept running around, though.
Finally, a police officer tased Henderson to the pavement.
After spending four hours in jail, Henderson said he had borrowed the shorts, and with no draw-string they just wouldn't stay up, he told the Enquirer reports.
The Flying Pig Marathon, run annually in Cincinnati, bills itself as for runners who would run a marathon "when pigs fly." City authorities have also said the Flying Pig race honors the city's hog-butchering history.
Henderson now faces charges of indecent exposure and obstructing official business. He has denied the charges, and maintains running naked after losing his shorts was nothing unusual, the Enquirer reports.
Indecent exposure laws in most states make it a crime to purposefully display one's genitals in public, causing others to be alarmed or offended. Henderson's defense centers around the inadvertence of losing his shorts during the race. He claims embarrassing equipment failures are commonplace in marathon racing.
Henderson says he has run marathons around the country. He thinks his inadvertent wardrobe malfunction would not offend anyone. He "just wanted to finish the race he'd trained for." "Anything goes on race day," he told the Enquirer.
Brett Henderson, his naked marathon performance behind him, will have to try to sell that to the judge. He was arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
Related Resources:
- Naked Flying Pig runner arrested (Cincinnati.com)
- Indecent Exposure (Findlaw)
- OFFENSES AGAINST JUSTICE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (Ohio Revised Code)
- Obstruction of Justice (Findlaw)
- Naked Guy found Not Guilty of Breaking Indecent Exposure Law (Findlaw's Legally Weird)