Sunning Topless, Key West
An email today to Key West Police Chief Donnie Lee (the original had two rather embarassing typos):
women sunning topless
| From: | |
| Sent: | Fri 7/24/09 8:40 AM |
| To: | dlee@keywestcity.com |
| Cc: | morgan mcpherson (mayor@keywestcity.com); Mark Rossi (mrossi@keywestcity.com); jim scholl (jscholl@keywestcity.com); Dennis Ward (dennisward@aol.com); clayton lopez (clopez@keywestcity.com); Bill Verge (bverge@keywestcity.com); Teri Johnston (johnston@keywestcity.com); jpais@keywestcity.com; thebluepaper@kwtn.com |
Dear Chief Lee,
Late yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from Dennis Ward. He said he called to let me know he had discovered the last arrest for nudity on a beach up Miami way was 1992. He again told me that his office will not prosecute women for sunning topless on our beaches. He made a point to distinguish sunning topless from all-nude sunning, which he said will have to be in an area legally designated for nude attire. He said he had told you about six weeks ago, in his Key West Office, that he will not prosecute women for sunning topless on our beaches. Also present, he said, were some of his staff and one of your officers, last name Smith. Captain Scott Smith I told Dennis it might have been. Dennis said this was part of a broader conversation he had with you, which he did not explain further to me.
Let me put on my lawyer hat for the benefit of the City of Key West, which in the past sometimes has blundered into costly litigation it probably ought to have stayed away from. If KWPD arrests and jails a woman for sunning topless on a Key West beach, it will not be able to make out a case because the State Attorney’s Office will not prosecute. What that will result in is the case being dismissed by the court. The woman then will have a cause of action for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, which tend to carry punitive as well as compensatory damages. The woman also will have a cause of action for violation of her civil rights generally, and sex discrimination specifically, which ”color of law” of cases allow for civil as well as criminal prosecution. Knowing lawyers like I do, I imagine there will be plenty, male and female alike, chomping at the bit to represent damsels in topless distress. Besides the City of Key West, I imagine other defendants will be you, the city manager, under whom you work, and the city commissioners and mayor, under whom the city manager works.
Because of what I have personally experienced, and based on reliable KWPD reports I have heard from other people, it won’t surprise me if you, Chief Lee, are told from higher up, or perhaps you simply take it upon yourself to instruct your troops (under “color of law”) to tell women sunning topless on beaches to put their tops back on, or leave the beach, or be arrested and jailed. If that is how it goes, some ladies might be meek and go along with this ploy, but some women might not want to turn the other cheek. They might ask to be arrested and taken to jail, so they can get their case dismissed and sue the City, you, the city manager, the mayor and the city commissioners.
I can envision women paying for their vacations in Key West, and more, after they are arrested for sunning topless on a beach here. I can see ”Hey, gals, lets sue Key West!” becoming international news. I can see feminists coming to Key West from all over everywhere to try to get arrested on a beach.
Please advise me, Chief Lee, of your and KWPD’s position on women sunning topless on our beaches.
Thank you,
Sloan Bashinsky
Political advertisement, approved and paid for by Sloan Bashinsky