Palo Alto police are looking for a man who reportedly exposed himself to a 14-year-old girl who was walking her dog in the Fairmeadow neighborhood on Monday afternoon.
The incident occurred around 12:30 p.m. in the 300 block of East Meadow Drive, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Palo Alto Police Department. The girl was reportedly walking her dog east on East Meadow when a man who was driving west pulled up to her and asked for directions, police said.
When the girl looked inside the vehicle, she saw that the man had his pants down to his knees and was fully exposed. The girl quickly walked away and called her mother, police said. She also reported that as she was walking, she spotted a vehicle that resembled the one that the man was driving and thought he may be following her.
Police said the girl last saw the vehicle, a light brown or faded gold sedan with peeling panit, traveling east on East Meadow Drive. She described the vehicle as an "older" model and said it was messy inside. The girl also saw laundry detergent and bleach bottles in the back seat, according to police.
Police said she described the man as either mixed race or Hispanic and between 35 and 45 years old, with a heavier build. On Saturday, the department released a sketch of the man created with information provided by the girl.
There is no indication at this point that this case is related to any other indecent exposures from earlier this year, police said.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the police's free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
Comments
Registered user
Ventura
on Nov 20, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Registered user
on Nov 20, 2018 at 1:48 pm
Ugh, I hope they catch this creep!
Same thing happened to me as a child and I still shudder with the 45 year old memory.
Old Palo Alto
on Nov 20, 2018 at 2:27 pm
on Nov 20, 2018 at 2:27 pm
I'm not a psychologist or anything but curious...what prompts certain individuals (usually male) to partake in such peculiar activities? Does it stem from some sort of childhood experience/trauma or is it just indicative of an unexplainable loose screw?
Stanford
on Nov 20, 2018 at 5:07 pm
on Nov 20, 2018 at 5:07 pm
^^^^ Sexual arousal based on the exhibitionism of oneself...a personal sense of empowerment by shocking others (onlookers). Men do it by flashing their privates...women by flashing their breasts.
Whether this behavior is rooted in childhood or simply a preoccupation to get attention has yet to be established as it would require a sizable number of individual practitioners in order to get a clearer perspective. Since many exhibitionists flash and then vanish, it is very difficult to assemble them as a collective case study group.