VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – A Virginia Beach family took matters into their own hands when they chased down a man they claim exposed himself to a pair of young girls.
The alleged incident began on Friday in the Ocean Lakes neighborhood of the city. Amy Verner said her 11-year-old daughter was walking home with a friend when a man in a silver car stopped near the girls and exposed himself.
They filed a police report and a few days later, the same car was spotted back in the neighborhood.
“She’s pretty shaken. You know at 11 years old, you feel safe. This man took that from her,” Verner said.
Verner said her daughter and a friend were walking on Avatar Drive near Chaka Lane when they noticed a silver car with black rims kept circling the block.
“When they got to the stop sign, the car pulled up and this man turned the dome light on and started touching himself,” Verner said.
Verner says the girls screamed, the man sped away and they ran home. Verner called police and her daughter gave officers a detailed description of the unknown man.
“Four-door, silver, sedan, black tires, black rims,” Verner said. “He was mid-20s, dark brown hair, white guy and white t-shirt, gray underpants.”
Since then, the 11-year-old hasn’t strayed far from her house and on Wednesday, Verner said her daughter saw the car driving by again.
“Before she could even finish her sentence, ‘the car, the car he’s driven by twice,’ my son grabbed his keys and ran out the door,” Verner said.
Verner’s husband got in his vehicle too. They eventually found the car and called police.
“My son was behind him, my husband was in front of him and they came to a complete stop and sandwiched him in,” Verner said. “I drove by with my daughter, not close enough, but so she could see and she said ‘that’s the car mom, that’s the car without a doubt in my mind.’”
Officers responded but according to Verner, they couldn’t make an arrest.
“He hadn’t exposed himself, he hadn’t done anything last night other than drive by, so they had no reason to hold him however, they have his information,” Verner said.
With that, the family is hopeful police are closer to finding the suspect.
It’s not known if the man seen driving the car on Wednesday is the same person who exposed himself last Friday. 10 On Your Side has reached out to police for more information, but haven’t heard back.
In the meantime, Verner is reminding parents to talk to their kids about being alert and knowing what to do in this type of situation.