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Salt Lake City police are looking for a man who exposed himself near Wasatch Elementary Friday morning. School officials think the same man flashed students during the last school year because the two incidents sound very similar.
The man was scene while students were having morning recess around 10:30 at the south end of the playground, which is adjacent to an apartment complex near 30 North and R Street (1100 East).
Police say a man parked his SUV in the parking lot of that apartment complex. The girl told police the man was sitting in the driver's seat with his seat reclined. She said he wasn't wearing a shirt and thought he was naked. When she ran to tell a teacher, the man drove away.
Salt Lake School District spokesman Jason Olsen said, "To have somebody who is willing to do that, who is willing to make that kind of a move pretty close to a playground, is very concerning to us."
The girl didn't get a very good look at the man because there was a pole obstructing the view of his face.
Parents hope police will catch this guy. Parent Shahn Ellis said, "I don't like that kids will have to be put through that, or see that cause it might do something to them."
"It makes me angry," Dana Johnson said. "There are some sick people in the world. "I have a daughter who's in third grade and a son who's in first grade, and it makes you scared to have your kids come to school and not know who's going to be around them."
During the last school year, a man parked his car in the same spot and flashed some students. That's why the school thinks it could be the same guy.
The Salt Lake City School District sent notices to all its other schools to keep a lookout for this man after that happened.
Police have only a vague description. They say the man was in a silver SUV. The girl said he had a hairy chest and was a little overweight.
The district has agreed to make some changes to this playground after what happened. Olsen said, "The principal has asked and the district has agreed to put up some barriers along that fence where it's going to make it so that the students cannot see the fence and see into that adjacent parking lot. Hopefully that will deter this."
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
