Obscenity charges dropped against underwear-less Italian

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

ROME (AFP) — An Italian man obliged to go commando because of his wide girth was resting easier Saturday after a court dropped obscenity charges resulting from an highly embarrassing moment at the shops.

The man, whose name and age were not disclosed by Italy's domestic ANSA news agency, was inside a supermarket reaching up to a shelf when his pants split at the seam, revealing nothing but his bare bottom.

Outraged, a couple of women shoppers nearby screamed in horror. Police soon rushed to the scene and arrested the man on suspicion of committing an obscene act in a public place.

Defending himself in a court in Gallarate, a medieval town of 50,000 in Lombardy, northern Italy, he said that due to an obesity problem, he could not find underwear in his size,...