SEATTLE — A man is driving a pickup truck in West Seattle, holding his phone out of the window as if he’s recording, and shouting lewd sexual comments to women walking.
Two women have reported incidents to police. But posts on social media indicate it may have happened to as many as 20 women over the last 18 months.
Local community members have been discussing the harassment on social media.
It’s primarily happening to women walking along 35th Avenue SW. It has happened during the day and at night.
Late last year, the West Seattle Blog posted about specific reports from readers involving harassment who wanted to alert the community.
The blog post detailed a 15-year-old girl who dealt with a man while she was walking home from school. A second report in the post described a man in a pickup truck screaming explicit comments at a woman at the intersection of 35th Ave SW and Thistle Street.
“There’s crime and there’s the fear of crime. And, if women feel threatened in any way, it makes people feel uncomfortable in their own neighborhood,” Jim Fuda with Crimestoppers of Puget Sound.
So far, the man has just made the lewd comments from his truck and he has never exited and tried to approach any of the women. But police encourage women to be vigilant. That includes staying safe and getting as much information as possible.
“Don’t engage, at all. That’s what guys like this want, and so the best thing you can do is ignore him,” Fuda said. “Always look for an escape route. Also, try to get information – a good description of the suspect or a license plate.”
This story was originally published by my MyNorthwest.
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