Man threatens woman with rape during daylight in Piedmont Park

The following information was posted on Dec. 8, 2012 by the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance (MPSA) concerning an incident that reportedly recently happened during the early afternoon hours in Piedmont Park. Patch confirmed with the Atlanta Police Department the incident in question and APD spokesman John Chafee said that the "Special Victims Unit is attempting to follow up with the victim to obtain more information." Via email with Patch, the woman involved said she was OK and glad the information is being made public to stress the importance for individuals to have safety awareness at all times. She also said she was eager to discuss further the incident with a member of the Special Victims Unit

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From the MPSA:

ALERT

1. We have received a report that a threatening individual communicated to a victim his desire to rape her while she was in Piedmont Park. The incident remains under investigation as of this writing, but we wanted to make you aware. Below is the report that we have received. We have no further information at this time, but please report any similar kind of encounter with such an individual to 911 immediately. As needed, make as much commotion as possible to draw attention to the situation until the authorities can be safely alerted. Monitor our Facebook page or Midtown Patch in case further details emerge.

I received a call from [Victim] about a terrifying incident that happened to her today [Thursday 12/6] inside Piedmont Park that she wanted to make us aware of. [Victim] stated [that] around 2 pm today she walked into Piedmont Park near the 12th Street entrance beside the lake and a clean cut black male, with short hair, some facial hair, about 6’2, wearing jeans, a blue shirt, and carrying a black backpack came nose to nose with her and said “I wanna rape you, you sl***t” with what she described as “a despicable voice.” Luckily, she remembered that she saw some workers blowing leaves in the park prior to her encounter, so she bolted off towards them with the suspect following her. Once she reached one of the guys she began telling them what happened and pointed to the suspect that was following her. According to her report, the suspect ran away when he saw her talking to the park worker and pointing at him. The worker blowing the leaves got on his motorized vehicle and began to follow the suspect over 10th Street to the school down by Grady, where he witnessed the suspect change from the blue shirt he had on to a light brown shirt, the suspect dipped down somewhere and from this point the worker on the motorized vehicle lost him. [Victim] stated the police took 15 minutes to come but they arrived and she made a report of it.

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The MPSA has served the Midtown community since 2003 as a non-profit organization by coordinating neighborhood response to public safety and security issues in order to advance the Midtown way of life. The MPSA achieves this objective primarily by operating a neighborhood security patrol funded by its resident and business members, and community sponsors. See here for more information about becoming a member of the MPSA. The MPSA coverage area includes:

• From Juniper Street to the defunct railroad track just east of Monroe Drive and Home Depot
• From Ponce de Leon Avenue to 10th Street.
• Highlighted in green on the map
• All of Kennesaw Avenue, Penn Avenue, Myrtle Street, are in the service area, along with Glen Iris Drive down to but not including North Avenue