A Sarasota man, married to a 52-year-old grandmother who was arrested for "flashing"— showing her breasts— for beads during Fantasy Fest, has lodged a formal complaint with the Key West Police Department.
"We now think it may have been a setup," said Donald Kirchman. "My wife innocently flashed a man who offered her some beads. She was instantly arrested by Sgt. John Hardy.
"She was not intoxicated nor did she resist. But Hardy roughly handcuffed her and put her, crying, into a police van to be transported to jail. The next morning, her wrists were red and bruised," Kirchman said.
"My wife is a fine woman with feelings. She did not deserve the treatment she received from Sgt. Hardy. He talked to her like she was a pile of human waste."
A press release sent out by the Police Dept. just before Fantasy Fest promised that, "in most cases," officers would issue warnings before making nudity-related arrests.
"Other officers I spoke to said that Hardy should have given my wife a warning before arresting her," Kirchman said. "But that didn't happen."
The arrest was made on Thursday night, Oct. 26. Kirchman said that, while his wife was being fingerprinted, an officer told her that the law concerning flashing was not going to be so strictly enforced on Friday and Saturday.
"Just look around to see if there are any cops close by before you flash," she was told.
"At the time of the arrest, I asked Hardy for a card with his name and badge number," Kirchman said. "He told me he didn't have one. Then I asked him to write it down for me. He said he didn't have any paper.
"I gave him a piece of paper, but he said he didn't have a pen!"
Kirchman said he finally identified Hardy by asking another officer who he was.
"The next morning, we related to a police officer on the street about what had happened to my wife the night before. He asked who the officer was. I couldn't remember the name but I told him that he was a sergeant.
"`Must be Hardy,' the officer said. `I've worked with him before. He's got an attitude and thinks he's a bad ass.'"
Kirchman said he and his wife have been coming to Key West twice a year for years and have been to Fantasy Fest 11 times.
"And we don't stay at some little motel. We stay at the Pier House and we spend lots of money. But we'll never be back," he said.
Kirchman was incredulous that men roaming the crowd and riding on the parade floats repeatedly encouraged women to "Show me your tits!"
"And everytime that women, caught up in the festival atmosphere, did that, they risked arrest," Kirchman said.
Spokespeople from the Police Dept. responded to a request for comment on the Kirchner case. Individual officers are not allowed to talk to the press without permission.
City Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt has called for an investigation of what he called "overkill enforcement" of laws relating to flashing at this year's Fantasy Fest. He says that as many as 60 people were arrested on various charges relating to "indecent exposure."
"Fantasy Fest is promoted around the world as a New Orleans-Mardi Gras event," he said. "People come here assuming that a little outrageousness is okay. After all, we waive the City's strict open container law for this event.
"Some of our police officers just need to lighten up a bit," he said.