“Thanks to that, I am now afraid to even go about my own neighborhood”

I was going out for a nightly run in my well-lit gated apartment neighborhood with my dog last night. I prefer going when it’s dark out because of the extreme heat of the day in the summer. My normal running partner declined to run with me.

As I made my way to the top of the neighborhood, I noticed a bright yellow jeep off to the left in a parking lot. I’m 10’s of yards away at this point, running on the opposite side of the road. There is more than one individual in the vehicle. They start yelling at me, making comments at first about my dog, then turn to me. One guy in particular is very loud and I hear him yelling out to me to ‘come over’ and he then proceeds to follow me in his jeep.

I tried ignoring them and keeping the same pace, up until this point. He yells out to me, ‘YOU CAN SUCK MY DICK!’ He hasn’t caught up to me yet in his jeep, and I start to panic. I’m sincerely afraid and sprint as hard as I can around the corner, then making a sharp turn to the right into another lot where I notice a man getting out of his car. I’m trying not to draw attention to myself and just want to hide and get away. The man looks at me but doesn’t say anything. His girlfriend who is further ahead looks concerned…pauses…and then the jeep drives past the street. I keep running to the end of the lot and alternate hiding between and behind cars until I make it to the stairway.

At this point, I don’t know if they are coming back to find me or what is happening. I start crying and experience an anxiety attack. I’m shaking, scared, and now afraid to return to my apartment. My run and sense of security is ruined. I just wanted to be left alone. In the end I felt just ashamed, embarrassed, and afraid.

I don’t know what to do about this or what can even be done. I’m sure the police would’ve done nothing. I know this is wrong and NO ONE should have to experience this. NO ONE should be harassed, bullied, told to do sexually explicit things, followed, and made to run in fear on the street. Thanks to that, I am now afraid to even go about my own neighborhood and there seems to be no measure of justice for what happened.

– Anonymous

Location: Kennesaw, Georgia

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