INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis salon owner is sharing a warning after a man exposed himself outside her shop.
The incident happened on Tuesday while customers were inside Indie Mane Salon in the Flecther Place neighborhood. Security cameras captured the entire moment.
Owner Belinda Benham said it happened while she was in the middle of an appointment.
“I said to my client, I was like, I think there is a guy outside,” she described. “And to my horror, I walk over and peak around, and I seem him with his privates out in between the [fence] bars.”
Belinda said she ran outside shortly after noticing. She said it was clear the man was not urinating either.
Belinda said an employee was sitting on the business’ patio reading a book just a few yards away. Fortunately, Belinda said the employee did not notice the man as he exposed himself.
“I was in shock seeing that and my brain did not want to believe that was happening,” she said.
Belinda said she was mostly concerned about her employees the whole time.
“In a weird way, I’m glad it happened to me and none of my employees,” she said. “I am a training salon. My youngest employee is 19. We’re mostly all women, and it is my job to protect them, and for that to happen on my property freaks me out.”
After Belinda approached the man, he walked away, eventually driving away in a pickup truck with a garbage bag over the license plate.
“Everything was premeditated,” she said. “I don’t want him doing this to anyone else. That’s why I’m being so loud about it.”
Belinda filed a report with the police. After all of this, she said there is one thing every business needs: security cameras.
“I feel like cameras are non-negotiable,” she said. “And in any crazy like unusual situation, my advice is if something doesn’t seem right, take pictures and film it.”
Without her security footage of the act itself, Belinda said detectives tell her any charges would be highly unlikely. She said she has already had people reach out to help identify the person, and has shared that additional information with police.
