June 5, 2006 | Funny Bits

Murphy's law of nude driving

Chances are pretty good that one day you'll be in some kind of car accident. Chances are also pretty good that when that happens you'll be fully clothed. That was not the case for off-duty police officer Ioannis Mpletsakis,who says he was driving in the nude so he wouldn't damage the leather seats in his BMW after a day of boating and swimming. 

Mpletsakis's 5 minute drive to his home in Edison, New Jersey, would have gone unnoticed had he not rear-ended a truck. After quickly checking to see that the occupants of the other vehicle were okay, he took off on foot because he couldn't find a pair of shorts to cover himself.

"In my state of nakedness, I didn't want to run down Route 27," he said. "I didn't want people to see me like that."

Mpletsakis was found by a colleague behind a car in the parking lot of a building about 300 feet away from the accident scene. He is charged with  assault by auto  (because a passenger of a truck was in fact  injured), hindering apprehension and leaving the scene of an accident -- but at least his beamer's seats are okay.

• Cop drove nude to protect leather car seats [Home News Tribune]