I am a student at American University, and one afternoon, I was running with some friends on Wisconsin Avenue NW. In-between Veazey Street NW and Van Ness Street NW, a man walking by lunged at me, and seemed to try to grab me around the hips with his arms. I quickly jumped away from him, and we kept running, while my friend shouted back at him something along the lines of, “You’re a creep.” On our way back, once we turned around, we switched to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. My friends and I would run here three or four times a week and nothing had ever happened. I had never, ever felt unsafe in this area before, and what shocked me the most about this experience is that there were four or five men in suits in the immediate vicinity who merely watched what happened and did absolutely nothing.

Submitted JM on 7/14/2011

Location: Wisconsin Avenue & Veazey Street NW

Time of harassment: Day Time (9:30A-3:30P)

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault you would like to submit? Just click here and fill out the online submission form. All submissions are posted anonymously unless you specify.