ASUO President Rachel Pilliod became the latest victim Monday in a series of indecent exposure reports filed in the past few days. An older man reportedly exposed and stroked his genitals toward Pilliod while she was leaving her residence near East 21st Avenue and Alder Street on Monday morning. While all the incidents have occurred in relatively the same area, suspect descriptions given by the victims — all of whom were female — don’t match up.
“Indecent exposure is a definite form of sexual harassment,” Sexual Assault Support Services spokeswoman Michelle Edwards said. “Just like in date rape, flashers are testing the victim, trying to see what they can get away with.”
SASS provides support services to students and community members in need of counseling and representation after being victimized through sexual violence or harassment. Edwards said the context of the incident, the actions of the flasher and the personal experience of the victim in any such encounter weigh heavily on the crime’s emotional impact.
Pilliod said she felt it was important to report the incident not only for her own safety, but for the sake of women throughout the community.
“The more women who know about it, the better,” she said.
Pilliod was walking to her car early Monday morning on the way to the Student Recreation Center when an older male crossed the street in her direction and made eye contact with her before disappearing behind a truck parked in front of her car. At first Pilliod said she didn’t notice where he hid, but as soon as she slowly drove past the parked car, the man stepped out into view. He reportedly dropped his pants and then fondled himself in Pilliod’s direction.
“It was very specifically directed at me,”
she said.
Having forgotten her cell phone at home, Pilliod said she raced to reach the rec center and call the Eugene Police Department. The police logged the call at 6:34 a.m. and noted the suspect description but were unable to locate the flasher. Pilliod described the suspect as a middle-age Caucasian male with short brown hair and a full beard. She said the man was wearing a long-sleeved, horizontally striped shirt, dark pants and large glasses.
Despite a roughly close proximity in reported locations, the description of Pilliod’s flasher in no way resembles those reported to EPD over the weekend.
A female called EPD at 1:50 a.m. Saturday to report a male suspect masturbating with his pants around his knees while following her and her friends back to her residence near East 19th Avenue and Alder Street. The suspect was described as a Caucasian male in his 20s wearing a handkerchief over his face. The responding officers were not able to locate the suspect, who was last seen on Alder Street between East 17th and East 18th avenues.
Less than an hour later, a second female caller gave a similar description of a suspect masturbating on her front porch. The female called EPD at 2:39 a.m. after peering out a window to view the suspect, who had rung her doorbell. Officers were unable to locate the suspect, who left the scene before they arrived.
Still settling down from the initial shock of the crime, Pilliod said the incident has given her reason to think twice about walking home alone and has made the walk to and from her car a task now filled with fear and uncertainty.
“I have always felt really comfortable in my neighborhood,” she said. “It’s unbelievable — I’m so angry.”