Police investigating attack by homeless man in Colorado Springs park
A man and his 4-year-old daughter, visiting from Texas, said they were verbally assaulted and pepper-sprayed by a homeless man Tuesday in Colorado Springs.
The incident happened at America the Beautiful Park, apparently near the Julie Penrose Fountain.
The father wrote an email to KRDO NewsChannel 13 and asked to remain anonymous but said the homeless man shouted profanities at him and his daughter before they were sprayed.
“(The homeless man) appeared to be very excited at the sight of my daughter in a bathing suit,” the father wrote. “(He) began yelling sexual comments at us while I dried her off under a tree next to my car.”
The father said the man walked away while he and his daughter were affected by the spray. Police are investigating the incident but have no suspect description so far.
The father said he chose the park to visit after going to the online search engine Trip Advisor and finding it had no warnings about homeless people as some other parks did.
The father and his daughter have since returned to Texas.
“This was a very disturbing incident where a man in a public park attacked us out of nowhere,” the father said.
The park is popular for children and families, and parents at the park Friday had mixed reaction to the incident.
“I’m not surprised,” said Megan Lawson. “I was confronted by a homeless person downtown just the other day. I think we need more security at these parks.”
“I’m surprised,” said Jennifer Lambiase. “I’ve seen homeless people confront park visitors before but only when the homeless were confronted first. I don’t know what I’d do in that situation.”
“You can’t assume that every homeless person is a threat,” said Gabe Chodrick, visiting from Oklahoma. “You just have to take precautions and be aware of what’s going on around you.”
“I would have tried to tackle him or take him down if he had sprayed my child,” said Johnathan Arruda.
“What happened bothers me but I don’t think it would discourage me from bringing my kids to a park,” said Jenae Alexander.
Parks have become popular gathering spots for the homeless as their camps are closed by authorities and local ordinances limit where they can camp.
Some parents said Tuesday’s incident was inevitable as visitors share park spaces with segments of the homeless population who can be violent against each other.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 also learned earlier this week of a big change at Dorchester Park, which has been overrun by the homeless and is rarely visited by citizens.
The park’s picnic shelter is now fenced in to keep people out.
“We did that in cooperation with police to try to stop some of the illegal activity going on there,” said Kurt Schroeder, of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “It seems to be working so far.”
Schroeder described the illegal activity as drinking alcohol on city property, drug activity and loitering in the park after hours.
