Editor’s Note: This story details sexual harassment, which some readers may find disturbing.
On a typical day in McAllister Park, Marissa Rijos and her friend had a nice picnic in a shady area, as they had done many times before. However, when Rijos was recording her dance, she noticed something “very disturbing” when she looked at the video again. Rijos said she saw a man exposing his genitals and masturbating on a bench not far from her.
Caught red-handed
Rijos, 28, said the incident occurred just after 5:00 pm on Wednesday, January 18, at a nearly 1,000-acre Northeast Side Park at 13102 Jones Maltsberger Road, San Antonio, TX 78247. There was foot traffic near a road called ” Jumping deer. Rijos explained how they chose the location so she could film a dance video of her shuffling, adding that she sometimes gets embarrassed in front of others.
While there, Rijos said her girlfriend noticed a man behind them, warning her to be on the lookout. Rijos said she felt “an uncomfortable feeling” when she looked the man in the eyes for a split second. At the time, Rijos said she didn’t know what the man was doing until she picked up her phone and zoomed in on the video to get a closer look at him.
“I zoomed in because I wanted to see if I was being paranoid. I felt like he was looking at me,” she said. “Of course, when I zoomed in and saw him and what he was doing, my partner also looked at him and noticed too. She screamed that we needed to leave immediately, and then he began to pull up his pants and run. “
Warning: The video below contains explicit and graphic footage:
SAPD is responsible
Earlier that day, Rijos said he saw a policeman driving around. According to Rijos, the two ran to look for the officer after the incident with the man. The couple also called the local police station.
When police arrived, Rijos described the suspect as a 5’11” slender man with red or light brown hair, a mustache and beard. According to an incident report from SAPD, police were looking for a man wearing a yellow hat, blue or gray shirt and sweatpants.
Police searched the park looking for the man, including the area where Rijos said he fled. However, the officer failed to find the man.
“It was so disgusting and very unsettling,” Rijos said. “My biggest fear is that he is going to do it again or do it even worse than what he did that day. It seems to me that I filmed this on camera for a reason – to spread information and to be found. your surroundings and listen to your intuition. People just aren’t up to no good these days.”
Need safety in the park
Marzeska Braun, a member of the Friends of McAllister Park, told MySA that incidents like Rijos’ experience unfortunately happen in many parks. She said the incident took place at Leaping Deer, which is closed to vehicular traffic due to a lack of sufficient police presence to monitor these areas.
“We have a lot of respect and value for park police officers,” Brown said. “We also know that they need more support and more staff to expand their monitoring capabilities in the park to keep it safe… The video was really graphic and it makes it so real in the sense that it’s a problem. It’s traumatic for anyone to go through this.”
Brown said Friends of McAllister Park is considering working with the Districts 9 and 10 offices to see how funds can be directed towards park safety. MySA contacted the District 9 office for comment on this story, but received no response.