Creepy men on bikes spread fear among women running on local paths

Last month I covered a series of disturbing incidents on the Springwater Corridor and other local carfree paths. Today I’ve heard of two more things you should know about if you use those facilities.

On Monday, a person who posts on TikTok as johnannabanana shared a video describing a scary encounter with a man on a bike. The person says a guy riding a bike followed her while she was running along the Willamette River on the Waterfront Park path near the Hawthorne Bridge. In the video, johnannabanana says the man was clearly watching her run and taking video of her and became rude when she called him out verbally.

Comments from other women on the TikTok post share similar experiences.

And yesterday, the Portland Police Bureau issued a statement saying they are looking for another cyclist who they say exposed himself to a female runner on the Springwater Corridor. It happened around 10:30 am Wednesday (9/4) in the area of SE Johnson Creek Blvd and SE Brookside Dr. Here’s more from the PPB:

The woman told officers she was jogging when a man on a bicycle passed her and jumped into the bushes further up the trail. According to the woman, as she approached the area, the man emerged from the bushes naked and with his hand on his genitals and he tried grabbing her. The woman managed to get away from the man and run for help.

Police say the suspect is described as a white man in his 30s, about 5′ 8″ with a shaved head who was wearing all black clothing. If you have any information about the incident, please contact Acting Detective Consider Vosu at consider.vosu@police.portlandoregon.gov, Officer Benjamin Forsyth at Benjamin.Forsyth@police.portlandoregon.gov or Officer David Kemple at David.Kemple@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 24-225143.