Orlando police are searching for a man who allegedly exposed himself to a girl walking to school on Friday.
According to the Orlando Police Department, the incident occurred between 8:40 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Friday, May 3 in the area of Summerlin Avenue and Washington Street. Police said the girl was walking along the road when an unknown approximately 6-foot-tall white male with brown hair in a blue sedan approached the victim. The suspect was allegedly unclothed and exposed himself from inside the vehicle to the victim.
Police said the victim was able to walk and then run away from the vehicle after it attempted to continue following her.
Investigators believe the suspect may have been near the 7-Eleven on Summerlin Avenue earlier Friday morning.
Police said that a blue sedan seen in pictures circulating in posts online has not been confirmed to be the suspect vehicle, or even the correct make and model at this time.
It’s been a restless weekend for a Mom who didn’t want to be identified. She says it was her 13-year-old daughter that a man exposed himself to Friday as she walked to Howard Middle School.
“Sleep? No,” She said of her rest since Friday.
“We didn’t find out until after my daughter came home from school,” the mom said. “She immediately went into freeze mode and became very scared and shamed and embarrassed. So she pulled me aside when she came home and we went for a walk and then she told me around 4:30 Friday.”
She says her daughter was leaving a coffee shop Friday morning where a lot of students meet up before school. She decided she wanted a quiet walk to herself.
“She told me that she was just walking down Eola Drive and then there was this blue car and the passenger side door opened and there was a naked man,” She said.
She says at first, her daughter froze. Then started to walk away.
“And then they began to follow her,” the mom said. “As they continued to follow her, she started running. When she got to Persimmon Hollow at the end near Robinson she hid behind the building and then she from that point is not aware of where the car went.”
Parents of Howard Middle School students got a call from the school principal Sunday afternoon.
“With an important safety message. Today we learned about a student who was approached by a stranger while walking to school Friday morning,” the call said.
The call from the principal encouraged parents to talk with their kids and report anything suspicious. He directed them to check the Orlando Police Department’s social media for updates.
OPD said in their post on Sunday they are reviewing surveillance video from businesses and homes in the area.
With no one caught and what happened still fresh, the Mom WESH spoke to isn’t sure if her daughter will be back in class Monday.
“I know she’s nervous about it for obvious reasons,” She said. “Because obviously, there’s going to be a bunch of people asking questions, which is great and not great because it’s nothing she wants to relive a million times.”
She’s hoping someone can help put the questions to a close.
“I would love for her to close this chapter of this traumatic experience knowing that this person is caught.”
Orlando police are continuing to canvass the area and are asking anyone with information about this incident or the suspect or suspect vehicle to call 911 or submit a tip through Crimeline at 1-800-427-8477.
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Source: Wesh
