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LBW Trend Watch: Numerous Crimes Foiled by Perpetrators' Baggy Pants
Back in July 2010, I wrote here about a New York case that found that while the baggy "pants on the ground" look may be foolish, it is not illegal to walk around with your pants hanging "down below your buttocks." After now reading about not one, not two, but three criminals whose plans were foiled by their own baggy pants, I wonder if the New York case might also have been decided on public policy grounds: baggy pants sems to make law enforcement's job easier.
Back in December 2009, a criminal was charged with killing several members of his family. The New York Post reported (via Turley) that he was inches away from grabbing another family member when he tripped on his baggy pants, allowing the woman to escape. He then tried to flee the scene by racing down the building's rear fire escape, "but again, his low-slung pants fell to his ankles, tripping him and sending him falling three stories to his death, authorities said."
This baggy pants lesson was not learned by a bank robber in Columbus, Ohio, who ordered a teller to put money into a blue bag he was carrying. The teller complied, The Columbus Dispatch reports (via Simple Justice), but also slipped a dye pack into the bag. The robber tried to run out the door but he was "impeded by his sagging pants," causing the dye pack to explode into a cloud of red smoke. The robber then dropped the bag and fled.
The most recent criminal to be foiled by his own pants was a burglar in El Jebel, Colo., who allegedly broke into a sports bar, started a fire while cooking snacks, and took "a substantial amount of cash." The Aspen Times reports (via Lowering the Bar) that the owners of the bar later spotted the suspect on a live surveillance video and ran to try to catch him. The suspect attempted to elude his pursuers, but without luck, "thanks in part to [his] baggy clothing." One of the owners reported that “[h]is pants were clear down around his knees so he couldn't run real well.” The owner and family members were able to detain the baggy-panted man until police arrived to arrest him.
Posted by Bruce Carton on December 7, 2010 at 12:59 PM | Permalink
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