Man arrested for urinating as apartment burned

[schadeaux]

A man who urinated behind his apartment as it burned, has been arrested for lewd conduct.

Jeff Theisen ducked behind a large oak tree in the back yard of his New Orleans home after he awoke to find his bathroom on fire.

He'd run outside in his bedclothes and stocking feet as firefighters and police arrived on the scene.

But before he could finish his call of nature, one of the police officers declared he was under arrest for lewd conduct, reports theNola.com website.

"I tried to tell him, 'Sir, my bathroom is burning. It's on fire.' But he didn't seem to care. As soon as I zipped up, he put handcuffs on me," Theisen said.

Lt. Gary Gremillion was called in to assess the situation and sided with the officer. What he saw was a guy exposing himself in front of a sizable crowd that had gathered to watch the fire.

"There were women out there, kids out there. There were plenty of places we could have taken him if he really needed to go," Gremillion said.

Theisen, 41, was taken to Orleans Parish Prison before being released to return home to assess the damage. The cause of the fire wasn't known.

Story filed: 14:30 Monday 5th May 2003

[FreyKade]

aw man, whats he supposed to do pee his pants or on the police officer