We just received this message from a reader who warning women about a man she encountered on the Myrtle Edwards Trail at 6:29 p.m. on Friday, June 18.
Please advise female runners to be on the lookout for a male cyclist who has been hitting women with his arm and shouting sexual comments as he pedals by. This happened to me June 18 at 6:17 p.m. in broad daylight on a heavily trafficked trail, as I ran westbound just beyond the Magnolia Bridge overpass on the Myrtle Edwards trail.
He rode into the pedestrian lane where I was running , hit me hard on my lower back/upper glutes, shouting a few words then “ass, baby” and sped up, still in my lane. As bicyclists/runners approached hundreds of yards ahead he wove in and around them erratically then disappeared around the trail heading southbound.
The man is described as a white male in his 30s, 5′8″ or 5′9″, medium build, with brown hair. He was seen riding a basic road bike wearing lengthy shiny blue basketball shorts with white stripes down the sides. He also had a large red backpack with whitish-grey piping and two-zippered sidings.
After reaching the south edge of the park near the pier, the woman told security guards about the incident, and the guards acknowledged that they had received a number of reports about this man from women on the trail at various times of the day, but did not yet have a description.
Although the guards said they would look through security tape to see if they could get a photo of the man, the woman also called police and filed an incident report. Police encourage anyone who has or does encounter this man to call it in and reference incident number 10-206777. SPD also told the woman that you can call the non-emergency number to ask for a patrol in this area if you are planning to run on the trail. He also advised carrying mace or pepper spray.
[SPD] said it’s unlikely the security guards will do anything, as mine was the first police report of this fellow despite the guard’s report of “numerous” incidents recently!!! Please, if you are a woman and run the Myrtle Edwards trail – in broad daylight – look for this jerk, report him. He is opportunistic. There is NO WAY he would have pulled this stunt if there were a bike approaching within 50 yards in back or in front of me. Clearly this pervert has gotten away with this and thinks he can keep doing it.