PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Palo Alto Police Department is asking the public’s help in identifying a man who exposed himself to a woman while she was hiking with her toddler on a trail along the Palo Alto Baylands.
Ryan Brennan with the Palo Alto Police said, “On Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at about 8:44 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a woman reporting an indecent exposure that had occurred at about 3:30 p.m. on a hiking trail at the Palo Alto Baylands at 2775 Embarcadero Road.”
A woman in her thirties had been walking with her toddler on the trail that runs along the northern boundary of the Palo Alto Airport and the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course. When she passed some bushes alongside the trail, she realized there was someone in the bushes who was naked and masturbating. The female victim quickly turned aside and immediately walked away.
Quickly finding two joggers on the trail, she asked them to escort her back through the area where she had seen the suspect hiding in the bushes. As they walked back to the area of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge to East Palo Alto, the female victim recognized the suspect now fully clothed and smoking a cigarette. Avoiding the suspect, the four then left the area.
“The victim described the suspect as a white male in his mid-twenties, around six feet tall, with a thin build,” Brennan said. “He had dirty blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail near the top of his head in a manner the victim described as a “man bun.”” The victim described the suspect as unshaven wearing eyeglasses and a black zip-up sweater and dark-colored shorts. The suspect also had multiple tattoos on his arms and legs.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.
