My parents and brother were visiting my boyfriend and I last night and we had just gone to dinner. My brother and boyfriend went ahead to Giant to pick up some things, while my parents and I continued on to my apartment. Walking from the Columbia Heights Metro toward the water fountains, a man with a largish backpack kept sticking to my left side and glancing (not so covertly) at me. My policy in weird situations like this has always been to ignore whomever is making me uncomfortable and to briskly walk away from them and toward other people. My parents, who were aware of the situation, were also doing their best to ignore this creep. We ignored him, we turned away from him, we tried walking in various directions to shake him off – seriously, this guy was aggressive. Unfortunately, we had to stop at a crosswalk light and the man (still doggedly at my side) started talking to me aggressively (“Hey.” “How are you?” “I said, how are you?” “Hey!”). My father (not a shy fellow) finally yelled “What do you want, buddy? Just leave us alone, ok?” The creepy man then started monologuing about seeing a “woman with her parents” and some other bull (he apparently is an ex-marine – OOOHHHH). He was actually trying to pick me up?! At that point, and very loudly, I told him to leave me alone. He finally walked away after we all confronted him. I’m grateful that my family was there, but it never should come to that. This is 2010, and I refuse to be afraid of men and afraid to walk by myself in public places. I don’t pretend to understand what the hell makes people brazen enough to harass a woman in public, who is with her family, and clearly, CLEARLY, does not want your attention. I don’t believe he was insane, clinically. You should be more than ashamed, Aggressive Creep. You should be afraid, because women aren’t taking this shit anymore.

Submitted by  Anonymous on 7/11/2010

Location: 14th and Park Rd NW

Time of Harassment: Night (7:30P-12A)

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