Andrew Collins was arrested Sept. 20 for standing naked in front of his 10th-floor hotel window overlooking the Denver International Airport terminal
Footage has been released of the moment a United Airlines pilot was detained by police for indecent exposure, as his lawyers claim ‘it is not a crime to be naked in Denver’.
Andrew Collins was arrested on September 20 for standing naked in front of his 10th-floor hotel window overlooking the Denver International Airport terminal. He has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
‘It is not a crime to be naked in Denver, even if you are a man,’ Denver attorney Craig Silverman wrote in a motion for his client, according to The Denver Post.
‘It is certainly not a crime to be naked in Denver in one’s lawful dwelling, which includes lawful occupancy of one’s own hotel room.’
He added that Collins had no idea people could see him when he partially opened the curtains.
Silverman shared video from the arrest provided by two officers’ body cams. The video had been edited down for time but showed a shirtless Collins getting detained.
At one point an officer has to help Collins put on a shirt.
Attorney Craig Silverman shared video from the arrest provided by two officers’ body cams
The video had been edited down for time but showed a shirtless Collins getting detained
In a separate motion for dismissal, Silverman also says authorities lacked probable cause to prove the case.
‘There is zero reference to any evidence, because there is no such evidence, that the naked man in Room 1017 did anything with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of any person, which is essential to the crime of indecent exposure,’ Silverman asserted.
‘When Captain Collins asked Officer K. Coleman why he was being arrested, Coleman said he was being arrested for lewd acts and indecent exposure, and wrongly claimed there were incriminating photographs,’ Silverman asserted.
At the time of his arrest, Collins had been engaged in a 20-minute phone call with United Airlines Captain Jamie Ferguson. The two were discussing Collins’ run for president of the Air Line Pilots Association. He has since dropped out.
United Airlines has suspended Collins, of Leesburg, Virginia, pending an internal review.
‘It is not a crime to be naked in Denver, even if you are a man,’ Silverman said in a motion for his client
At one point an officer has to help Collins put on a shirt
Collins admitted to standing in the window but denied he was purposely parading himself, despite several witness accounts to the contrary. He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Wednesday in Denver County Court.
A police probable cause statement said Collins ‘knowingly and willfully’ exposed his genitals to the general public at the Westin Hotel in September.
The Virginia man says he did not know people could see him when he opened the curtains to look at the landscape in the window of the 10th floor of his Westin Hotel room at the Denver International Airport.
‘We’re not disputing the fact that I was standing nude in front of the hotel window,’ the 22-year veteran said of the September 20 incident, according to the Denver Post.
United Airlines spokeswoman Erin Benson said in November that the pilot had been suspended pending an internal review.
A TSA agent informed police that he saw Leesburg, Virginia, man ‘touching himself’ and waving at him from the 10th floor of the Westin Hotel at the Denver International Airport
A TSA agent informed police that he saw Leesburg, Virginia, man ‘touching himself’ and waving at him but Collins asserted that that wasn’t the case.
‘Some witnesses said I was dancing, gyrating and waving,’ he added. ‘I’m completely innocent. It’s really unfortunate that it happened at all.’
Denver police said that Collins ‘knowingly and willfully’ exposed himself, reporting that two United employees and a passenger saw the man and gave credible statements as to what he was doing.
‘From this hotel room, you cannot see people going about their business inside the concourse,’ lawyer Craig Silverman claimed. ‘The concourse windows are tinted green and are opaque and reflective. It’s like looking at a green wall or a green mirror’
‘The suspect did open the window to his hotel room, which overlooks the hotel plaza, and in full view of the public did stand in his window fully nude, exposing himself and his genitalia to the general public,’ a police report stated.
On the day of the incident, Collins shared that he had been awake for more than 30 hours and had been sent to various airports while a severe thunderstorm pummeled the country. He didn’t get up until 10.30am, very late for the pilot.
‘I was getting ready for a shower and was talking on the phone,’ he explained. ‘It was a beautiful morning and I opened the curtains to my window. I couldn’t see the terminal.’
The pilot claimed to have been on the phone for roughly 24 minutes.
Soon after, police began pounding on his door and had their guns drawn when he opened. Collins was handcuffed and taken to the airport jail.
‘It was a surreal experience, I’ll tell you,’ he said.
Collins has been ‘removed from his duties pending an internal review.’
Facebook indicates that the man is married to a flight attendant named Jill Babich
Craig Silverman, popular talk-show host and lawyer for Collins, said in November that he went to the hotel room where his client had been.
‘From this hotel room, you cannot see people going about their business inside the concourse,’ Silverman claimed. ‘The concourse windows are tinted green and are opaque and reflective. It’s like looking at a green wall or a green mirror.’
But Silverman did find that from the concourse, people could see inside the hotel.
‘From inside the concourse, at that time of the morning, unbeknownst to my client, you can see into the Westin rooms, but the distance is such that you cannot see much other than a human form. My client had a reasonable expectation that no one could see into his window. He was unaware of any people looking at him as he focused on his important phone call while walking around his room,’ Silverman said.
‘There is zero evidence of any sexual activity demonstrating an intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of any person.’
Collins had been running for president of the Air Line Pilots Association, at the time of the arrest. Once he was arrested, Collins decided to pull his campaign even though there were only three weeks left.
‘I shut the campaign down after that,’ said Collins.
His Facebook profile suggests that that the man is married to a flight attendant named Jill Babich.