“I just wanted to say I’m sorry, I’m peeing”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Victoria Pickering

“Dear PoPville,

After work I was walking home from the Metro in Shaw yesterday talking on my phone when a man was standing behind a car. He waved one hand and started talking at me so being the polite person I am, I took out my headphone’s and asked him to repeat what he said. He then responded with “I just wanted to say I’m sorry, I’m peeing” and then pointed his genitalia at me. This is an extremely open area surrounded by various public establishments with working facilities, so there is absolutely no way that this was accidental.

I’m a young female in my early 20’s, so I’m not quite sure what to do when a situation like this occurs. Even though I’ve lived in the District for nearly a decade, This is the second time in two weeks that I’ve encountered men who have deliberately put me in very uncomfortable situations, to put it mildly, and I worry about the frequency with which it now seems to happen. Do I call the police?

(This occurred at 9/27/2016 at 5:50pm on 8th Street NW between P St. and O St.)

Thanks for the input!!”