Kaite Kinsella, an Ohio University freshman, began to pull up her pants after urinating behind a house on Mill Street when she noticed something odd.
There were two flashlights in the near distance, and she had just used the edge of the Athens Police Department parking lot as a restroom.
Moments later, she received a ticket for $239 and was cited for public urination by Athens police — making it her most expensive bathroom trip to date.
Kinsella said she paid the fine Sept. 23, and met with legal services Monday to ensure she won’t have the minor misdemeanor on her record.
“I really had to go, I’m not going to lie. None of my friends got cited for it, thank God,” Kinsella said. “No one ever gets caught; obviously it’s not the first time I’ve peed in public.”
Due to what students say is a lack of public restrooms Uptown, party-goers use wherever they might be as a restroom, and say they often don’t think of the consequences.
APD officer Destry Flick, on patrol last Friday night for crowd control, said offenders typically receive more warnings than citations. When an individual is cited for public urination, Flick said the consequence is typically a $239 fine for the minor misdemeanor.
Tim Carmen, owner of Union Street Diner, 70 W. Union St., said he sees multiple individuals a night using his restaurant’s parking lot for bathroom purposes.
“Usually you’ll see trails on the sidewalk, and you’ll know it’s pee,” Carmen said. “That parking lot is secluded, it’s a hotspot of problems. You can hide behind the dumpsters.”
Carmen said he believes the substantial fine these late-night offenders receive could be easily avoided.
“Usually if I catch someone, I tell them there’s a bathroom right inside they can use,” he said. “But they’re usually too drunk; they don’t want to.”
Cameron Wallace, a dishwasher at Sol Restaurant, 33 N. Court St., said he takes frequent cigarette breaks in the alley beside his workplace. Wallace said he usually sees at least one offender a night.
“People don’t even go that far into the alley,” Wallace said. “They think nobody can see them.”
According to the OU Police Department, 31 citations were handed out last year for disorderly conduct by physically offensive behavior, a ticket given to those who have their genitalia exposed in public.
APD Chief Tom Pyle said the offenders typically receive a larger ticket for something more serious like public intoxication or underage consumption.
“I would say the instances of us catching someone urinating in public are three to four times as much as what we actually end up citing them for,” Pyle said.
Kinsella said the police asked her if she had just finished urinating in the parking lot and she decided to be honest and tell them instead of complicating the situation. Afterward, she said she put the ticket in her purse and continued her night with friends.
“$239? That seems like a lot for public urination,” Kinsella said. “I’m probably going to try to hold it from now on.”
eo300813@ohiou.edu
@eockerman
