‘Don’t go out alone.’ Police address recent arrest in Charlotte greenway attack
A 15-year-old girl became a sexual violence victim when a man exposed himself during her Friday-morning jog.
The same happened to a pair of women in their late sixties at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday.
Bruised and scratched after escaping a suspected rapist, a 40-year-old woman filed a police report and checked into the hospital just before noon one Wednesday last September.
The women — all of whom were using the McAlpine Creek Greenway network — were just four of the 12 million who visit Charlotte’s greenway trails in a year, according to W. Lee Jones, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Director.
The ratio is small, he said during a Monday morning news conference at the park, but even one assault is too many.
The reported greenway incidents happened between September 2022 and August 2023.
On Thursday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers arrested Khalil Boler, 28, in the September 2022 assault, officials said.
While Boler is not a suspect in the other two cases, Peitrus said, DNA testing — like the familial DNA searching used in his case — could lead to answers he said.
“Those attacks were random,” he said. “They were very brazen.”
Boler is charged with attempted second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping,interfering with emergency communication, assault on a female and sexual battery, jail records show. He was jailed with a $116,500 bond Friday but by Monday it was $300,000, according to the detention center website.
While the assault immediately prompted more police patrols near McAlpine Creek — which sits between Independence Boulevard and Margaret Wallace Road — officials are now reminding the public to take their own safety precautions when using the nearly 70 miles of trails that run through Charlotte.
Safety on Charlotte greenways
CMPD Lt. Kevin Pietrus grew up biking, walking and kicking a ball in the fields surrounding McApline Creek. He knows the layout well around the park’s central pond and remembers which parking lots were once soccer fields.
Pietrus encouraged people to take advantage of the city’s nature — especially with fall’s pending colors and cooler weather. But it’s better, and safer, to create those memories with someone, he said.
“Please don’t go out alone,” he repeated twice at the park Monday.
If that’s not possible, it’s important take a phone and share your location and expected return time — which should be before dark — with a trusted person.
Pietrus asked people to call 911 if they see suspicious activity in any county park.
The county is “being very specific and intentional” with its plan to address crime on the greenways, Jones said. It will add trail markers to help people understand their surroundings and is determining crime hotspots with CMPD’s help, he said.
Anyone with information in the greenway attacks can call the Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 704-334-1600.
