Louisiana woman wants city to drop citation for shorts, crop top discussed in viral TikTok

On Saturday, a Winnfield, Louisiana, woman took to TikTok to complain about an indecent exposure citation she received at a festival that day. Casey LaCaze-Lachney has obtained an attorney and plans to get the citation dismissed. 

Randall T. Hayes is an attorney in Alexandria who has taken LaCaze-Lachney's case.

He made a post on Facebook in regard to the incident that states: 

"There are two elements to this crime that Casey is alleged to have committed. One: The undergarments or one of the body parts mentioned must be exposed. Two: The exposure must be intentional.

"Neither of these elements were met. There is no evidence that Casey even unintentionally exposed herself in any of the ways covered by the ordinance. The claim that Casey intentionally did anything like that while attending a festival with her husband and her children in downtown Winnfield is not believable." 

The post goes on to state that Hayes made an official request for the body camera footage on Monday, June 20. A written request was faxed to Winnfield Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter's office and was confirmed over phone that the fax had been received. 

At the time of publication, the Winnfield Police department has not responded to the request. 

Check out the original story:Louisiana woman posts viral TikTok video after citation for wearing shorts and crop top

What we know:Woman's 'indecent exposure' citation over shorts, crop top goes viral

The Shreveport Times reached out to Hayes for comment, and he stated he believes the police officers who issued the citation had no legal basis and feels confident LaCaze-Lachney's citation will be dismissed. 

"No one in a leadership or public information position has been available when I've called the Winnfield Police Department and none of them have returned my calls," said Hayes. "We will have to prepare a defense until we know it has been dismissed. We are looking ahead to the question of how to make sure that something like this does not happen to anyone else. That is going to require some remedial action within the Winnfield Police Department."  

Haye's Facebook post goes on to state that LaCaze-Lachney is looking for an apology from the officers involved for how the incident was handled and a commitment from the City of Winnfield that its police force will have training on how to enforce the city's indecent exposure ordinance. 

"I don't ever want another person to feel the embarrassment I felt in front of my children," LaCaze-Lachney said in the post. 

To read the full post from Hayes, visit his Facebook page. To see the original video and the two updates from LaCaze-Lachney, visit her TikTok page. 

The Shreveport Times has reached out to the Winnfield Police Department for comment and has not received a response. 

Meredith G. White is the arts and culture reporter for the Shreveport Times. You can find her on Facebook as Meredith G. White, on Instagram and Twitter as @meredithgwhite, and email her at mgwhite@gannett.com. 

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