A POLICE officer who "arrested" a naked man during a live radio stunt has been defended by his bosses.
The unnamed officer hauled off Hallam FM's breakfast-time Stuntman to the nick after he stripped in Rotherham town centre.
But police later admitted the "arrest" - which led to the Hallam joker being locked in the cells at Rotherham's Main Street st
ation - was just a joke, and he was released without charge.
Today a South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman denied the "arrest" had wasted valuable police time - but admitted it was something they would not encourage.
"This was not something that took up a lot of police time - it was only a matter of minutes," said the spokeswoman. "The officer dealt with this on his own initiative and got carried along in the spirit of things.
"It is something we would not encourage and the officer has been advised accordingly. It was not an official arrest even though the man did strip naked. If a member of the public did strip naked in public it would be an offence - but this was not carried out as an offence, it was a stunt.
"The man was later released without charge. We used our discretion in this instance."
The Stuntman, from the Big John @ Breakfast show, was taking part in a general knowledge quiz, removing his clothing when he got an answer wrong.
