Windsor Police arrest suspect after several women report being followed by man in a car
When Melissa Seger was driving home late Tuesday night along Windsor's Riverside Drive she says a man in a car with one working headlight followed her.
She's one of several women in the city who have stepped forward with a similar story. Windsor Police arrest said a man had been arrested and charged with criminal harassment Tuesday night at Riverside Drive and Ouellette Avenue.
According to a news release, the arrest was made following a complaint from a woman who said she had been followed by a man in a car. Police declined to comment further.
"It was about 10 o'clock so it was pretty dark out and ... I noticed there was a guy behind me pretty much the whole length of Riverside from downtown to east side," Seger told CBC News. "I just kept driving and I sped up a bit and I turned into a dark driveway and I shut my lights off and I noticed him kind of creeping by, looking for my car."
Eventually, he turned around so she started following him, he intercepted her and tried to talk to her.
"I was just yelling from my window, like asking him why he was following me and he said 'can I buy you a coffee?' And I was like no like why are you following me? I'm trying to go home and I can't go home now," she said.
Neighbours came out to help her chase him away and when the man left, Seger called police, who told her she wasn't the only person making the same claim.
'He didn't do anything illegal'
It's not clear if the incident the man was arrested for was the one she recounted.
Seger also said she came across a post on Facebook that had more than 1,000 shares and it was alerting people living in central Windsor to be on alert for a man in a car with one headlight out.
"Last night on my way home from a friends house in the west end I noticed a car behind me on Wyandotte," it says." ... I didn't think much of it until the car also started making all the same turns as me I take to get home through the central area streets. I started shaking at the thought of being followed .. I drove away from my house in fear of showing a stranger where my daughter and I live."
The post continued to say that the woman called 911 and police located them and pulled the car over.
"The officer said he would be on their radar as he didn't do anything illegal but they don't condone that behaviour," the post continued to say.
When Seger reported the incident, she says police told her she wasn't the only woman making the same claim.
Two of the women said that police told them since the man wasn't doing anything illegal, there wasn't much that could be done.
When CBC News asked police why the women were told that and what happened that led to an arrest, police wouldn't comment.
Similar incident
Janelle Cunning told CBC News Wednesday that she was followed by a similar car when walking her dog in the Fontainebleau area.
She said the man followed her to her driveway and when she asked if there was something he needed, the man said he just wanted to say hi.
"It scares the living daylights out of me," Cunning said. "I just want to see females have their power back and feel safe. I wouldn't want to feel like have a fear to walk out my house and be on the road and wonder, am I going to be followed today? And I want that for other women. I want us to be able to feel safe."
Late Monday night, Gabrielle Comeau had a similar experience in city's east end.
The man drove right to her house and when she asked what he was looking for, "he said, 'I'm looking for you.'"
"Right now, I feel very motivated to do whatever I can to get this guy off the streets and to also educate other women that we need to stick together and that we need protect one another and talk about these things more," Comeau said.
Investigation ongoing
Police said in a release that if women experience something like this, they should get to a populated location, like a business, and call 911 immediately. Victims should also try to get as many physical descriptors as possible.
Police are still investigating and ask that anyone who may have experienced something similar come forward.
