Jeremy Clouse
We are not advocates of vigilante justice. Its history in the United States and elsewhere is not an attractive one. But there are occasions when it just instinctively feels like the right thing.
Jeremy Clouse, of Gresham, Oregon, found himself in one such situation last week, and I, for one, don’t blame him for what he did. I hope the police won’t, either.
Every school day morning, Mr. Clouse walks his two daughters, ages eight and five, to the school bus stop. This was the routine he was following last Tuesday, except he saw something that just didn’t sit well with him.
“I saw a guy in a silver car with four doors and he didn’t belong around here,” he told a local television reporter. “He was staring at my daughters funny.” In itself, this will raise the antennas of any mom or dad. He also noticed that the car had no license plate.
Clouse got closer to see if he recognized the driver and could tell whether the man belonged in the area. “I wanted to walk around and see what he was doing or if he was from around here. And he had his pants down around his knees and, uh, doing every parent’s nightmare.”
Indeed. If I were the father of young girls and spotted some perv jerking off as he ogled them, I don’t know what I’d do.
As Clouse approached the car, the man – whom he identified as a light-skinned Hispanic male of around 180 pounds – just giggled at him and made no indication of stopping his activity or moving his car.
That’s when Clouse reached in and clocked him. “I hit him two or three times,” powerful right crosses to the man’s left jaw that left his own knuckles red and swollen. Finally understanding that Clouse meant business, the man sped off, after which Clouse responsibly called the cops.
The police are looking for this individual, who shouldn’t be too hard to spot, given Clouse’s description and the further ID he left on the alleged pervert’s jaw.
What the police haven’t said yet is whether they will charge him with assault and battery. There is certainly a case for it, but I think there is a far greater case for admiring a man who lets sexual predators know in no uncertain terms that the community will not tolerate their behavior. I don’t know if this guy has ever done anything more daring than masturbate in his car, but I can say that this kind of thing, peeping tom-ism, and breaking and entering to steal underwear and other souvenirs, are often the gateway crimes for those who develop into violent sexual offenders.
If he had it to do all over again, I suspect Mr. Clouse would act just as he did. And I think most of us would act just the same way.
Or wish we had.
