CHRISTIAN PARK, Ind. — Several neighbors in one Christian Park neighborhood tell FOX59 News they’re concerned after security footage captured a man exposing himself to a woman early Thursday morning.
“I was petrified. I was pretty scared,” said Sarah Wright, the victim in Thursday’s incident. Wright said she did not recognize the man who approached her.
The incident occurred around 5:40 a.m. in the area of English Avenue and Temperance Avenue.
Surveillance video captured on a neighbor’s home security system show the entire interaction. The man slowly walks by Wright’s car as she was getting ready to leave for work.
“I was scraping my windows and when I saw him pass that’s when I kind of just got in my car and I waited,” she said. “I didn’t know he was waiting on me.”
Timestamps on the videos provided to FOX59 by Wright’s neighbor show the man waiting for nearly 10 minutes, crouching next to a nearby fence and what appears to be pulling down his pants at one point.
When Wright backed out of her driveway and began to head down the street, she said the man approached her and dropped his pants to the ground, exposing himself. At one point, Wright said he was blocking her from driving around him.
“I tried to go around him several times and he just kept moving in front of my vehicle so I couldn’t get around.”
She said she’s still working to process what happened, but after seeing the surveillance video, she felt even more scared knowing the man was waiting there the entire time she sat in her car.
“I just don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” said Wright. “I just don’t want anybody else to feel the way I feel about it. You know, I don’t know if I’m okay with it yet, but I’m just concerned.”
“It was scary.”
Wright said with so many children in the neighborhood, and being a parent herself, she hopes the person responsible is caught before they victimize anyone else.
“He needs help. He needs to be caught and taken off the streets so it don’t happen again,” said Wright.
On Friday her family installed more home security cameras, but Wright said she still feels uneasy after the incident.
“I’ll probably never walk outside by myself again, especially when it’s dark,” she said. “Ladies, always watch out. I was watching behind me, but it was dark.”
Her husband, Nathan Wright, said he was appalled and upset by the incident Thursday morning.
“I don’t think there’s a circumstance that warrants that type of behavior,” he said. “No way, that’s never acceptable in any stretch of the imagination.”
“I one hundred percent support our Indianapolis Metro Police Department doing whatever they gotta do to get this person off the street because the last thing – the last thing that I want to hear happen is a news story on this happening again and it could’ve been prevented,” said Nathan Wright.
“Here’s this crazy thing happening when it’s like eight degrees outside, on top of it in the middle of the street.” Wright said he attempted to chase the man, but was unable to catch him.
Several neighbors told FOX59 Friday they were concerned and disturbed by what happened.
The Wrights have filed a police report with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) regarding details of the incident.
FOX59 News also spoke with IMPD Friday about what someone should do if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.
“We’d ask that you call 911 immediately. Try to get a good description if you can. Always maintain your safety and maintain your distance from that person,” said William Young, Public Information Officer for IMPD.
“It’s important to get that information, even if we’re not able to take that particular person into custody, they may have already left prior to the officer’s arrival,” he explained. “If there’s other cases that our investigators may be working, that may help with leads and take these folks into custody.”
Young said any time a crime of this nature is reported, police take these incidents very seriously.
“It’s extremely serious. It’s extremely disturbing anytime we have somebody intentionally exposing themselves,” he said.
“You can be taken into custody and arrested for indecent exposure. There are different levels to that particular crime, and it can go up to a felony depending upon which statute that you do violate,” he explained.
Young said it’s important to communicate any safety concerns to neighborhood IMPD districts so the department can address those.
“We always try to be as responsive as we can to the needs of the community. Each district has a community relations unit that’s very receptive as well to information.”
Anyone with information on this incident or any crime is asked to call IMPD at (317) 327-3811.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated the incident occurred in Irvington. The correct neighborhood is Christian Park, located just outside Irvington boundary lines.
