Anyone with a drinking history who’s been to bars knows that sooner or later you’re going to be seized by the call as you’re walking home late at night, and when that happens it’s a matter of finding a nice alleyway or a hidden area next to a shady tree or a bush or whatever. It happens. I was seized in Munich one night last June and I took care of things in a dark garden area adjacent to a museum, and I don’t even drink. It’s just a matter of staying out of people’s sightline.

This is where the Penske brothers screwed up. They were too drunk or too arrogant to bother to find a nice dark place. On the other hand, what kind of woman goes over to a drunk taking a nocturnal leak and says, “Hey, dude…were you born in a barn? Hold still, I need to take your picture so I can report you to the police.” That’s just being confrontational and aggressive. If I see some guy taking a leak in the shadows I just look away. And if he’s relieving himself out in the open I just look away and mutter to myself, “Jesus Christ, what an asshole.” But I would NEVER get in his face and take a photo. A person who does that is just looking to get pissed on.

I would, however, report the drunk if he was dropping a deuce, but I don’t think the Penske brothers were doing that.

Incidentally: Jay Penske‘s ownership of Deadline stirs thoughts of Nikki Finke, of course. Here’s an 8.9 Columbia Journalism review piece about the fake Finke tweeter, and the real Finke’s response to same.