University of Memphis police are looking for a man who allegedly exposed himself to a student in the library on campus Wednesday. The incident reportedly took place around 10:10 a.m. in McWherter Library. The suspect was described as a black male in his early 20's, 5 feet 6 inches tall, average build, light complexion, with a mustache and short black hair, according to a police report.
The victim, a student at the University of Memphis, filed the report.
She reported that she was alone in a private study cubicle on the fourth floor of the McWherter Library when a man and a woman walked into the study area and put their bags down.
The woman left the study area, and soon after, the man stood up and exposed himself to the victim. She immediately pulled out her phone to make a call. The man pulled up his pants, grabbed his bag and walked out. There were no other witnesses to the incident.
Police Services sent out an email at 4:48 p.m. Wednesday notifying the U of M community about the incident.
Bruce Harber, director of Police Services, said police worked with the victim throughout the day to make sure that all the information about the incident was accurate before sending out the information to students and staff.
"Each of our cases is different, and we have to wait until we know exactly what we have before we send out an email," Harber said. "You can't go too early, because if you put something out, you can't retract it."
There was a 50-minute gap between the time of the incident and the time that it was reported.
"Sometimes victims need to collect their thoughts or call a friend before reporting an incident, so I never try to hold that against them, because it happens all the time," Harber said. "I've been accused of being too protective, but if someone's a victim of a crime, then you definitely don't want them to think that they did anything wrong."
Harber said he is confident that Police Services will be able to catch the offender and is "encouraged by where (it) stands right now on the case."
