[THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS FROM CBSLOCAL.COM] Parents in Brooklyn were on alert Friday evening, as police investigated the motives of a man who has been seen following school buses and taking pictures of young children.
As CBS 2’s Don Champion reported, one parent caught the man on tape.
A photo shows the man climbing into the driver’s seat of a van. It may look innocent, but it has been raising eyebrows in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.
“It’s very scary,” said Chaim Krakauer, “very scary.”
Krakauer is just one of the parents on alert here. For more than a week, the suspicious man has been seen following school buses and taking pictures of students leaving their Yeshiva.
Parents have been fearful because they don’t know who the man is.
Krakauer said parents should “keep an eye on (their children) and make sure whoever goes around them should be safe.”
The man’s actions worried one parent so much that he snapped the photos and even recorded a video of him.
And after video of the man surfaced, other parents in the area came forward, saying that they have also seen the man outside a synagogue.
“Our school has, I’m sure they have precautions in place and we hope and pray to God that our kids to get to school and come home safe,” said parent Chanie Schwartz.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) met with concerned parents Friday morning.
“We don’t know who this guy is. We don’t know what his intentions are,” Hikind said. “But following kids around and taking pictures of them is not a healthy situation.”
As of Friday, police said they are not sure if the man has committed a crime, but did confirm they are looking into what his motives could be.
“You never know,” Hikind said, “and I don’t want to wake up to some horrible thing happening, saying we should’ve done more. We’ve got to do whatever is humanly possible to get this guy away from these kids.”
The concerned parent who snapped the photo of the man also got his license plate number, which was turned over to investigators.
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7 Responses
“Parents have been fearful because they don’t know who the man is.”
This one line encapsulates the problem.
What this person is doing is wrong. People who will allow had it been a known member of the community, are sadly, very misguided.
JM19, except that it would be exceedingly rare, if it ever occurred, that a known community member would do this. Something you fail to acknowledge.
Imagine if they didn’t have smart phones – no one could take pictures of this criminal!
Reply to #3 did you ever hear of a camera like they used to use in the “olden days”
3,
who said he is a criminal? Why are you jumping to conclusions?
I’m curious as to why the man’s face is blurred in the photos. To me, it seems that this picture should be shown around, and children should see it and be cautioned about this person??????
Fest – you carry around your olden day camera all the time?
Mark – true, could be that he is just a photographer for National Graphic. Why would you rather judge him favorably than judge me favorably?