Charge after woman creates traffic jam

REGINA - A woman is facing a charge of distracting traffic after she walked topless on a Regina bridge.

Investigators don't know if Dawn Keepness was trying to make a political statement late Tuesday night or was simply baring her breasts because she was drunk, Staff Sgt. Hal Zorn of the Regina Police Service said Wednesday.

"That hasn't been made entirely clear," he said.

Keepness, 38, faces a single count of stunting under the province's Highway Traffic Act, Zorn said.

"It's a general section of the Highway Traffic Act that applies to anyone who is distracting traffic, whether they are driving another vehicle or not," he said.

In July, another Regina woman, Dolores Uhren, rode topless in a convertible Jeep.

After police stopped her, the 44-year-old woman told reporters she bared her breasts on the city's busiest street because she believes the law should allow women to go topless in public, especially on hot summer days.

Zorn said police don't suspect Keepness was going topless to support Uhren's stand.

"There's no apparent connection between the two incidents," he said.

Charges against Uhren are still pending.

The debate over women going bare breasted has been heating up since December when the Appeal Court overturned indecency charges against Gwen Jacob, who'd strolled bare-breasted through Guelph, Ont., five years earlier. That ruling made bare breasts legal.

Zorn said police arrested Keepness at about 10 p.m., after several motorists called to complain about a topless woman walking on the Broad Street North bridge.

Traffic on the bridge was backing up as motorists slowed down to watch the woman, Zorn said.

"We received several calls from motorists, who were not only concerned about the traffic problem, but were also worried for the woman's safety, given her condition," he said.

When officers arrested Keepness, they considered charging her with public drunkeness, a violation of the province's Liquor and Gaming Act, Zorn said.

However, after reviewing the case further, they decided to charge her with the Highway Traffic Act offence instead, he said.

Police released Keepness Wednesday morning after letting her sleep for several hours in their cell block, he added.

Keepness has one month to pay a $60 fine, or she can fight the charge in traffic court.

She could not be reached for comment.