Car stereo, drinking don?t mix for Dimas

A drunk man with a liking for loud music will serve 48 hours in jail after police arrived at a local apartment complex on a disturbing the peace call to find him relieving himself in the parking lot.

The defendant, Juan G. Dimas, 35, was sentenced to 48 hours in jail Tuesday by General Sessions Judge Larry Ross and must pay a $10 fine on the charge of public intoxication. The charge of indecent exposure was dismissed.

Dimas was arrested following a disturbance outside Dogwood Point Apartments. Police say they had already spoke to Dimas about 15 minutes earlier and told him to turn down the music in his pickup. Dimas did as police asked and turned down the radio ? that is until they left the area. At that point, witnesses say Dimas again turned up his radio, prompting a call to police.

It was when lawmen returned they were stunned to see Dimas relieving himself in the parking lot, in view of several residents, some of which, police say, were children.

?Mr. Dimas was peeing in the parking lot in front of children of which some were under 13 years of age,? said officer Robert Hutchins in the warrant against Dimas.

In his drunken condition, Dimas likely did not make the most logical choice as he bolted for his vehicle and tried to turn down the stereo while still relieving himself.

?Upon seeing the officer approach, Mr. Dimas staggered to his truck to turn the music down again, continuing to pee on the parking lot and in his truck,? the warrant reads.

Under state law, a person relieving him or herself in public is not necessarily charged with indecent exposure, as long as the person takes steps to conceal him or herself from public view, and so long as the exposure is not for sexual gratification.