Have you ever felt just too safe? When you think that nothing can harm you because all is well, it’s broad daylight, and your husband is sitting in the car watching your back is exactly the time when you should be aware of your surroundings. The times we live in are so different than we were kids. Sure it was hard enough back then, but in today’s world one needs to be extremely careful and watch every little nook and cranny in one’s peripheral vision.

Today woke me up in a way that you just could not imagine. My husband and I drove through Riverside Park to eat a hamburger and watch the geese. On the way out, I needed to stop by the bathroom to take care of some business. While in the bathroom, I kept hearing someone flipping the door handle a couple of times. I didn’t think anything of it except there was another woman checking to see if the stall was open. Well much to my surprise, that’s not what was happening on the other side of that bathroom door.

I opened the door and saw my husband half out of the van looking behind him. I looked at what he was seeing and to my unbelief, I saw a man with a bottle or something in one hand running towards the other side of the park. Now, this is in broad daylight. The man was a younger fellow, maybe in his middle 30s; he was about 5’11”, white, wearing blue jeans and a long sleeved faded indigo blue polo shirt.

My husband said that he came out of the bushes on the other side of the bathroom stalls, walked up to the stall that I was in (which is clearly marked for women) and shook the handle hard a couple of times. He turned and saw my husband, whom was getting out of the van by this time, ran back to the bushes grabbed a bottle of something and started running towards the other side of the park.

Now, no one got hurt, the assailant didn’t achieve anything except scaring the crap out me. This is why I’m writing you. Someone needs to know that there are predators out there where you wouldn’t think to look. I’m writing you so that hopefully you can pass on this message to other women so that they can arm themselves with the truth instead of living blindly that “Oh no this can’t and wouldn’t ever happen to me.” Maybe not, but my husband was sitting 50-feet away from me and this predator had a goal. Thank God nothing happened, but still the fear of the “what ifs” will shake me for a couple of days.

So, thanks for listening to me and I sure do you that you can pass this story on so that it may just save a woman from going through a horrible ordeal.

Sincerely,

Sharon Wagner

 

Editors Note:

In light of the above incident, BrownwoodNews contacted the local police department to get some helpful tips to stay safe.

*Be aware of your surroundings.

“Don’t put yourself in a position of being alone with no other avenue of escape,” stated Assistant Chief James Fuller.  “Keep something with you such as a whistle or a loud scream to alert that you are in trouble and need help”.

*Always be conscious of public places and generally open areas which are a source for predators.

“In a place like a restaurant you are safer because there are more people around than in a city park,” stated Fuller.  He explained that there are more people to see a predator in crowded places, rather than the city parks, which may be more secluded and have less people to witness an incident.   It is important to be aware of people around you and their activities.