Nude Kelowna sunbather arrested
A Kelowna, B.C. man is facing the possibility of two criminal charges for sunbathing naked at a city beach.
It all began a couple of weeks ago when Paul Moran was at Mushroom Beach with some friends.
He explained what happened in his own words to Radio West host Rebecca Zandbergen.
"As you know Mushroom Beach is quite a liberal beach in Kelowna and for men and women it's more than acceptable to be topless."
"I saw the women going topless and I was inspired by the liberation that was being seen and felt as though I would love to take off my shorts, but too bad that's not accepted."
"All my friends around me said 'If you want to do it, why don't you go do it? Nobody here is going to care about that, you're the only one who is judging yourself.'"
"And then I said, 'You're right, why don't I just go ahead and do this because it would be freeing for myself and nobody else here has any issues with it.'"
'Time to put some shorts on'
"Yesterday as two police walked by, without saying anything I gave them a wave and said hello and they walked past. Ten minutes later I hear them coming up from behind me."
"One [officer] says 'It's time to put some shorts on. It's against the law, you can't do that here. We have to enforce the law and if you can't cover yourself up then you have to come to the station with us.'"
"I wrapped the scarf around my waist to create a skirt ... so I am perfectly covered."
"The big officer says 'It's not acceptable to my standards.' They both grabbed me by the arms, picked me up and put me in cuffs and took me to the station."
Singing and chanting in jail
"I ended up being in the jail cell for about the whole afternoon as far as I know. I didn't time it or anything."
"I'm a very light-hearted person so I enjoy every moment I can. I was doing some singing, some chanting. The jail cells are very acoustically sound."
Police say Moran will appear in court in August, and they may recommend charges of committing an indecent act and obstructing a police officer.
However, the incident hasn't deterred Moran.
"I was at the beach today sunbathing in the nude. I can't let anyone kill my vibe."
To hear the full interview with Paul Moran, listen to the audio labelled Kelowna man arrested for nude sunbathing
Correction : A previous version of this story said Moran had been charged with two criminal offences. In fact, he is due to appear in court in August, and RCMP say they may recommend two criminal charges.(Jun 11, 2015 2:34 PM)
