Cops: Man Gets Naked in Jail Lobby

A Chattanooga man apparently wanted to go back to jail. Bad. Really bad.

"What do I have to do, throw a brick through the front window," he allegedly asked jailers after first requesting to be arrested, then removing his clothes in the jail lobby of the sheriff's office in Cartersville, according to the incident report. 

Leo Christopher Hardaway, 41, of Chattanooga, had just been released from the Bartow County jail on June 18, a little more than a week and a half earlier. 

When he appeared in the lobby about 9 a.m. Thursday, Hardaway allegedly told a deputy at the bonding information window that he "wanted jail staff to place him under arrest so he could come back to the jail," the report says.

When told he wouldn't be jailed unless he violated a law, Hardaway remained in the lobby, where he sat on a bench, according to jailers. 

More than two hours later, Hardaway removed his clothing until he was "completely nude," told deputies they had to arrest him for the crime of indecent exposure and continually removed a blanket with which deputies were trying to cover Hardaway, the report says.

Told he was being arrested on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, Hardaway agreed to put on his clothes.

"While Hardaway was putting his clothes back on, he made numerous statements regarding the fact that he wished to stay at the jail and would continue to commit crimes if we did not allow him to stay," a deputy wrote in the report.

Hardaway was charged with violating a county ordinance.

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