“He continued to follow me, and I warned him I would call 911.”
Time: Daytime (9:30am-3:30pm)
Location: Little Falls Park Trail, Little Falls Parkway & Dorset Ave
I was walking along a park path during the day when I came upon a man walking his dog in the park. The dog was unleashed, in a park with leash laws. As I passed, the dog ran toward me and started jumping on my legs and getting entangled in my feet.
I said, “Please get your dog under control.”
The owner scowled at me.
I said, “The dog needs to be on a leash.”
So, he put the dog on its leash. Then, he proceeded to shadow me from behind, within 12 inches of my body so that the dog could still jump on me and get entangled in my feet–yet, it was leashed. I turned around, faced him squarely, and said, “back off.” He didn’t move. As I began to walk again, he came closer and walked alongside me, again letting the dog get under my feet and standing within 12 inches of my body.
So, I stopped to let him pass.
And he stopped.
I turned to him squarely and told him to stop harassing me or I would take his picture. To this, he approached me to within 6 inches of my face and said, “Well, you want to take my picture.”
I backed up and photographed him with my phone. I have a very clear picture of him, his dog, and his face.
He continued to follow me for a few minutes and I warned him I would call 911. He didn’t stop, so I called 911.
They put me in touch with the Park Police.
Thirty minutes later the police finally arrived. They took an incident report and promised me a detective would get in touch about the incident. I requested that assault charges be filed and also citation for the dog off leash. But they don’t know his name and they don’t know where he lives. No one from the Park Police has called to follow up and receive the picture I took. I can follow up, but, I don’t want to waste my energy because it seems like the police don’t care about enforcing the laws. I told the officer who took the report: this type of behavior lies on the trajectory to rape.
It will stop. It is going to stop. I’m going to be part of the solution.
Submitted 12/21/16 by “Cheryl H.”
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