Wearing saggy pants is not a crime, just foolish.
That's how a Bronx judge ruled in throwing out a summons issued to a man wearing low-slung pants that exposed his underwear.
Judge Ruben Franco said that the summons appeared to be an attempt by one police officer to show his displeasure with the style.
The Bronx man, Julio Martinez, was issued the ticket on April 20.
The judge wrote that many may find the low-slung trouser trend distasteful and foolish. However, he said, people can dress as they want as long as they do not offend public order and decency.
"While most of us may consider it distasteful, and indeed foolish, to wear one's pants so low as to expose the underwear . . . people can dress as they please, wear anything, so long as they do not offend public order and decency," she wrote in the opinion.
Franco's decision was issued last month. Martinez and his Legal Aid attorney could not be reached for comment.
The officer in this case wouldn't be the first to wage a complaint against underwear-showing pants. State Sen. Eric Adams posted billboards pressing young people to "Stop the Sag." He's said he doesn't want to make it illegally to wear saggy pants, just that he wants to stress to young people that it's not really all that impressive -- or fashionable.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg commented at a press conference on the case saying, “I am certainly not the style police. I don’t judge people about how they look or how they dress. I judge people about how they act. I don’t think the government should be in the business of telling people what they should wear.”
