BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Some neighbors in Buffalo say they feel violated following an indecent exposure incident.
Mariah, who lives on Buffalo's West Side, says she was walking down Rhode Island Street when a man began to follow her and her dog. She says he then followed her toward her home and hid behind bushes nearby.
"I kept trying to make excuses that he wasn't trying to hurt me or be weird. And then it ended up that he was exposing himself behind the bushes outside of my home and looking at my window," Mariah said. "I immediately ran out of my house and like yelled to my neighbors."
"What happened from there?" 7 News' Kristen Mirand asked.
"My neighbor was confused and he got up and started walking over and hid behind the cars in the left bank parking lot," Mariah replied.
She called the Buffalo Police Department and followed the man into a nearby parking lot.
"I started yelling at him once I saw him behind the fence and cars. He started walking towards me pretty menacingly and was telling me he was gonna hurt me. He was gonna kill me. He was gonna smash my face in," Mariah explained. "I continued to yell back because I'm not scared of you."
"How were you feeling at that moment? Was it just the adrenaline taking over?" Mirand asked.
Mariah responded, "Yeah, I was shaking pretty bad. I got smacked to the reality that this was a man. He definitely can hurt me, so I ran over to a fireman and he ended up running away after that."
7 News spoke with Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia about the incident. He says police are investigating this encounter to see if it's connected with two other cases involving 26-year-old Orlando Martinez.
Martinez has been charged with two counts of public lewdness. On May 28, one incident occurred near Elmwood Avenue and Bidwell Parkway. The other incident, also on May 28, happened near Elmwood Avenue and W. Delavan Avenue.
"I just want my friends and family to be safe and everybody on the West Side because we're the City of Good Neighbors," Mariah said.
