11 year old serially street harassed by adult- Willard Park area
For about the past year and a half my daughter has encountered harassment from an adult (middle aged) male cyclist in the vicinity of Willard Park and Benvenue. We’ve had about a half dozen encounters with this guy, the most recent one was this afternoon on Benvenue at about 4pm. Generally he screams at her to take off her mask (she tends to keep it on if we leave the library or a store) and then calls her stupid, etc. I believe he lives in the neighborhood and I’ve seen him similarly berate other mask wearers walking by as he rides down the street.
I think it’s really creepy that he feels entitled to yell at a child (while she is with an adult, sometimes 2!) and comment on what a young girl is wearing. My daughter has reached the age where she will start to walk around our neighborhood on her own and I’m afraid the creep will escalate his behavior if she is alone or without an adult.
Should I report this to the police? Try to get a restraining order? I feel like this pattern of behavior should be documented. Also wondering if anyone else has experienced harassment from this man.
Parent Replies
Definitely report it to the police. If you're on Nextdoor, ask your neighbors about this creep as well.
Oh, this guy is THE WORST! I have been similarly harassed by him, alone and with my 10-yr-old daughter. There was a thread recently in my Nextdoor feed all about this guy—we are far from alone, and it sucks. We’ve encountered him at Virginia and Sacramento and several times on McGee, from University to Dwight. He walks and bikes along those corridors. Once he even called me a child abuser because my daughter was wearing a mask—LOL. Sadly, I don’t know whether there’s much we can do about him. Next time he yells at me, I’m going to ask him his name.
Definitely report it to the police immediately next time it happens. Photos or video of him and the incident would be good too. I don't think a restraining order is justified at this point, especially since you don't have his name or address, but having the police stop him would hopefully end this behavior.
Hi, this sounds like an awful situation. I don’t really have any advice, but we also live on Benvenue near Willard. I haven’t encountered this person in that area but we did have a similar situation with a cyclist near Dwight and McKinley a few months ago and I wonder if it was the same guy. I was walking with my kids who were wearing masks outside, about to cross a street, when the cyclist pulled up and started yelling that it was child abuse and some other things. It’s pretty rattling and I hope there’s a good solution to this!
This man is well known in Albany too - he’s been yelling at people about wearing a mask for the entire pandemic. He particularly gets upset when children are masked. I’d love to know I’d there is anything to do about it-it’s super hostile.
Yes report it to the police!
Ugh, I know that everyone is sick of Covid and some people can’t deal as well as others but there is no excuse for this.
Have you taken pictures? If so, you may post on Nextdoor and see if your neighbors have more intel. Maybe they can give you an idea if he’s someone with severe social ineptitude or if there is something more concerning there.
Another idea is to contact the Berkeley police Community Services Bureau: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/86ada0eca5ca44a49923df512b16bba0
There is a general team line and one for your area (area 2). Disclaimer I’m in Oakland so I’ve not used this myself. But we have a non-emergency police that sounds very much like this team and support neighborhood watch communities.
Do you have a phone with video capability? Get a video.
By all means report this to the police, for what it's worth.
Has your daughter considered studying martial arts? For those who are interested in kung fu, wu shu, karate, jujitsu, the immediate effect is that the practitioner walks with more physical confidence. When I was being harassed on the street as a teenager, once I started practicing shao lin kung fu, I found that weird creepy guys no longer were a problem.
Before the pandemic my young teen girls and their school friends were frequently yelled at by an adult on the route to school. This distressed everyone, and there seemed to be no good solution. Until every child and adult started yelling "pervert!" loudly and repeatedly back at him every time he started. Other adults would stare, people would look disgusted and he eventually just stopped. Perhaps worth a shot and costs nothing. It empowered our children.
Ugh yes, have encountered a cyclist yelling about us wearing masks twice on Parker Street near MLK. He's gotten away too quickly to get a photo.
I'm so sorry you and your daughter (and others who've responded) are also dealing with this harassment.
I think I know this guy- he mostly glares at the men who encounter him, but he has freely yelled at me "You have *no* idea what you're doing!!' like I was abusing my children as I asked my son to move over on the sidewalk for a biker, and other judg-y, mean stuff and I couldn't help but engage him- he kept yelling back at me and my kids (one in a stroller, the other in preschool) as he kept biking. I think he goes to Trader Joes in the plaza a lot because we live en route. Seeing this comment makes me think I (we?) actually should call the cops on him- what would be the resolution, anger management? Meds? That's my conflict. To me, he looks like an average white middle class guy. My male neighbor mentioned calling the cops and I waved him off but what you are saying is really disturbing. I will keep an eye out for him. Not okay!! I don't do Nextdoor however, too weird/vigilante for my taste.
I highly recommend calling the police the very next time it happens and taking video. Once they can ID him it may be possible to obtain a restraining order if your daughter is in fear and because it’s a pattern. I’m from Berkeley and when I was a young adult I had to seek a permanent restraining order against a man who harassed me, yelled at me and scared me. It started when I was 12 and continued for years until someone helped give me the courage to seek a restraining order. Apparently he had been scaring other people too (among other things) but I was the only one who was able to establish a pattern. I am sorry your daughter is going through this. If he passes by there at predictable days/times, I say we schedule group mask time in the park. I will definitely wear my mask when walking in that area now.