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seretogis · 01-10-2004, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Driver is arrested over car art
Police seize boyfriend's auto with nude dancer painted on it.

By Tom Spalding
tom.spalding@indystar.com
January 10, 2004

An Indianapolis woman was arrested and her boyfriend's vintage Buick impounded because an image of a naked exotic dancer painted on it was visible to children.

The car's owner said Friday the image is art. Police say it is obscene.

Erica Meredith, 25, was charged Thursday with disseminating matter harmful to minors, a Class D felony, after police saw the painting when she was stopped for driving the 1976 Buick with a broken taillight.

In his report, the arresting officer wrote that the painting on the flat part of the trunk, "applying contemporary standards, displays a theme which appeals to the prurient interest of sex."

The painting shows a naked woman hanging on to a pole as two men, one smoking a cigar, watch from the audience. Her breasts and pubic area are visible.

Meredith said she was returning home with her children about 5 p.m. Thursday, when she was stopped by police in front of her home in the 4100 block of North Grand Avenue.

"He pulled me over for a taillight," she said. "Then he noticed there was a naked woman on the back of the car."

She said the officer consulted with his supervisor and then arrested her.

"The officer asked me if that was me. 'Is that your profession?' " said Meredith, who is a customer service representative for a Castleton business.

Police said the woman's children and children who attend Indianapolis Public School 83 could possibly see the mural. The woman lives near the school.

She also was charged with driving with a suspended license and exhibition of obscene material, both misdemeanors. She was taken to the Arrestee Processing Center and released early Friday morning without having to pay bond.

The Marion County prosecutor's office had not decided Friday how to proceed. An initial hearing is set for Tuesday.

Meredith said Friday the car is registered to her, but it belongs to her boyfriend, Keyon Johnson. She said she didn't like the image when he had it painted last summer.

Indiana Civil Liberties Union Attorney Ken Falk saw a photograph of the painting and called it "very graphic."

He agrees the case could test Indiana statutes that restrict the exhibition of obscene matter and dissemination of matter harmful to minors.

"The question is, is this constitutionally protected expression, and is it trumped by the interest we have in protecting minors?" Falk said. "Part of that might depend on Indiana law."

Indianapolis Police Department Sgt. Steve Staletovich said an officer has a right to apply "contemporary community standards" if he believes the public, especially children, could be offended.

Meredith and Johnson said the car usually sits locked in a garage because its primary use is to make an impression at sport shows and major cultural events.

He said he spent more than $3,000 on the car's sound system, rims and custom paint job.

Meredith said her own car's transmission is not working, so she used the vehicle Thursday for a few errands: to get an infant to the emergency room and then to pick up her 8-year-old daughter from school.

"She rushed the baby to the emergency room," said Johnson, who spoke to The Star and its newsgathering partner, WTHR (Channel 13). "She (the infant) was crying, and (Meredith) could not figure out what was wrong with her. From there she . . . picked up our other child from the after-school program."

"Now they want to put the D felony on a woman who has never been locked up before (and) works everyday," Johnson said, likening the car's mural to artwork such as a tattoo.

Patrolman Kevin Kern, who made the arrest, could not be reached for comment.

Do we, in the US, need to be protected -- need to have our children protected -- from images painted onto a car? Is seeing a painting of a nude woman really going to harm a child, and something which should result in jail-time? I think not.