Claremore Woman’s Quick Thinking Leads To Arrest Of Suspected Flasher

A Claremore woman says she is still in shock after she says a man exposed himself to her while making lewd gestures.

She said it happened in a store parking lot.

The woman said she hopes others call police if they're ever in a similar situation.

We have chosen not to identify the woman due to the nature of this crime.

The woman said it happened around 5 p.m. Friday. She says she was walking towards Walmart when a man in a truck began driving towards her.

"He almost seemed excited,” she said. “I thought maybe I know him, so I'm looking at him trying to figure out who he is and he stops next to me.”

She said at that point, she could clearly see the man fully exposed touching himself inappropriately.

"Very shocking,” she stated. “It took me a minute to actually process what I was seeing and experiencing. And then walking into the store, I kept looking back trying to get his tag.”

The woman said she then alerted the store who called the police.

Related Story: Indecent Exposure Arrest Made At Claremore Walmart

She said she could clearly see the man later continuing to circle the lot. A short time later, Claremore police arrested Austin Ward on a complaint of indecent exposure.

"When you have an individual that's willing to do this in public, this will escalate,” said Captain Milburn Litterell of the Claremore Police Department. “You have to be concerned about what he's gonna do next.”

The woman says she was afraid Ward was going to expose himself to others and worries that these types of crimes may be underreported.

She hopes if anyone else sees something similar they'll immediately call police to prevent the crime from possibly escalating.

"If they see something like this report it,” she said.

Police say the woman did the right thing.             

They say if you see something like this happening, don’t try to make contact; go to where there are people and call police.