Seattle, WA (KCPQ) — A Seattle woman is using social media to fight back, after she says she was groped by a stranger near Westlake Park.
The victim, Julia Marquand, says she’s tired of being harassed on the streets of Seattle. And if you don’t want her tweeting out your photo, you better not try to grope her.
“I could see his shadow over my shadow getting closer and then that`s when I felt his hand on my butt,” Marquand told KCPQ Wednesday.
She was walking down 5th Avenue on Sunday afternoon at the time.
“There was no one else within a 10-foot radius, it was not crowded enough to be tailing me like that,” she said.
Appalled and infuriated, she fought back the only way she knew how.
“I know the difference between being bumped into and being groped,” she said. “I pulled out my phone and I just started snapping pictures.”
She went straight to the police department and filed a report. But she said the officer didn’t even want to see the photo of the man.
Frustrated, she tweeted it out — and the reaction she got blew her away.
“I had no idea this would happen. I had 13 followers on Twitter when I started this.”
Now she has almost 200 — and her cry for help worked.
All the social media chatter caught the attention of Daryl Sharma’s probation officer.
Sharma is a level 3 sex offender, convicted of groping a woman in the Washington University Village.
State Department of Corrections officers took him into custody Wednesday afternoon for violating the terms of his supervision.
Since her tweet, Julia says several women have contacted her claiming the same man groped them.
She hopes others will feel empowered because she took a stand.
“Women should not have to walk like they`re going to battle; they should just be able to walk through the city peacefully without wondering if anyone is following them, without wondering if anyone is about to grope them or making crude sexual comments to them.”
Sharma remains behind bars.
If you have information on this incident or if you were a victim yourself, you’re asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1800-222-tips.
