A Loveland woman has been awarded a $50,000 settlement after she was charged with indecent exposure for playing Frisbee topless, the first damage claim paid to a woman wrongfully charged for being topless in the U.S., according to her lawyer.

Effie Krokos, 20, was tossing a Frisbee with her fiance in her fiance’s front yard in the 1100 block of Second Street Southeast on Sept. 26 when she removed her shirt. She told the Reporter-Herald on Thursday that she got overheated and took off her shirt almost without thinking.

Several hours later, after an upset neighbor called the police, Loveland Police Department officer Greg Harris came to her door. Krokos said that she tried to explain herself to Harris, but that he was dismissive of her and issued her a summons for indecent exposure.

She said that when she brought up a recent circuit court ruling against Fort Collins’ public nudity ordinance, the officer said that he had not been trained about it and that it did not apply to Loveland.

In February, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Fort Collins’ public nudity ordinance, which had no restrictions on male toplessness but prohibited women from baring their breasts, was in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Free the Nipple v. City of Fort Collins established that ordinances based on gender are unconstitutional. Krokos said that she and her fiance had read about the case.

A Loveland city ordinance prohibits exposure in public places or places open to public view.

“I was really upset at the whole situation because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Krokos said. “I was just playing Frisbee in my own yard with my fiance.”

Krokos, who was born and raised in New York to a family of Greek immigrants, moved to Loveland in 2017. She is studying at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins and wants to be a history teacher.

Had she been convicted of indecent exposure, a class 1 misdemeanor, she might have had to register as a sex offender.

“If I have this on my record I can’t be a teacher,” she recalled realizing at the time. She was heartbroken at the possibility of letting down her family and losing her dream job.

High-profile Denver attorney David Lane, who represented the plaintiffs in the Fort Collins Free the Nipple case, agreed to take Krokos’ case after she had been turned down by several other lawyers. He told Krokos he thought the city should throw out the criminal case against her.

Lane wrote a letter to the city Oct. 24, proposing a settlement in order to prevent a federal lawsuit.

“Although the officer issued the summons following proper protocols and in accordance with our local law, the city, upon the advice of its insurance carrier, the Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency, extended the settlement offer to the woman,” a statement from Loveland spokesperson Tom Hacker said.

The settlement went into effect Thursday, and the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be reintroduced in another lawsuit.

After the Sept. 26 citation, the city of Loveland suspended enforcement of the provision due to the 10th Circuit decision. The city will recommend that the City Council review the ordinance for possible amendment, the statement said.

The Loveland Police Department declined to comment on the case.

According to the city’s statement, the Loveland Police Department has provided training to officers regarding the changes in the law, and will continue to do so.

Krokos said that the settlement is a relief because it means that the ordeal is over. She stressed that the money, which she will use to pay her college tuition, isn’t what’s important to her. She wants to show that it isn’t fair for women to be treated differently than men by law enforcement, and hopes that the case will make more women aware of their rights.

“I want people to know ‘if the cops get tough on me, I can get this thing thrown out,'” Krokos said.