According to a complaint filed yesterday against the New York City Police Department, a woman believes her civil rights were violated when officers arrested her for sunbathing topless on a park bench in 2012.

Jessica Krigsman alleges that she was sunbathing topless on a bench in Calvert Vaux Park when two officers told her to put her shirt on. When she refused, she was told to “stop mouthing off” and the officers then forcefully pulled her shirt on over her head.

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Krigsman says she cited People v. Santorelli, which she claims allows a woman to bare any part of her body that a man can under the equal protection clauses of federal and state constitutions. The officers ignored her citation and arrested her, and she waited in a police precinct for over five hours before being issued a summons for “obstruction of a sitting area.”

She was not charged with any crime relating to public nudity. She is seeking unspecified damages for civil rights infractions, malicious prosecution, and assault and battery.

[“Rear view of woman’s naked back at the swimming pool” on Shutterstock]