Woman Shares Cautionary Tale After Being Groped at Garvin Park

This is a reminder, to please always trust your instinct, and stay alert. 

EvansvilleWatch shared a cautionary tale from a woman who took her kids to Garvin Park on a bright sunny morning to get some fresh air. She said that a man was there by himself and seemed to be acting weird. It was enough to put up a red flag for her, but wasn't enough to make her leave immediately. After his odd behavior went on for a while, he eventually approached her, asked for the time, and grabbed her butt.  Thankfully her and her children are all safe, but this could have escalated to a very scary situation.

Please always be aware of your surroundings, trust your instinct, and contact the authorities if you notice anything suspicious.

Thank you to EvansvilleWatch and this brave woman for sharing her scary ordeal:

I was at Garvin Park with my three children yesterday. When we arrived there was a young man, maybe high school age, who sat at the playground we were on. I followed my toddler around, watching her play for about 15 minutes. She wanted to swing, so I put her in a swing. At this time, the young man walk all the way over to the swings and sat right next to her even though there were other ones open. This was a red flag and even my two year old sensed it because she asked to be moved to a different swing. I tried to continue to be polite against my better judgement because as a high school teacher, I know some kids have disabilities and I thought this could be the case. When the only other family was packing up, I decided we should also leave. As I got my toddler out of the swing, the boy came up behind me and asked for the time. I told him the time, he made a comment about my Apple Watch and I continued to tend to my kids. He then grabbed my butt and then walked away. Stunned at what just happened, I just sort of stood there watching him walk away like nothing happened. The other mom called to me asking if he just stole from me. I don’t believe he did as I have everything of value still on my person. There was really nothing I could do at this point aside from get my kids in the car and leave. I have never had anyone be so brazen before. And I felt upset that it happened at 10:50am, in a park and he was waiting for 20 minutes for his opportunity without my knowledge of what was going to happen. I didn’t know whether to be relieved he didn’t steal from me or touch my kids or whether to be angry that someone would be so bold. The woman was very helpful and kind and if she is reading this, thank you so much for being there. It really shook me.
I just wanted to warn/remind parents to be very aware of your surroundings and any red flag should be treated as such.”