SAN ANTONIO – District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez is upset about Tuesday morning’s report of a sexual assault at Hardberger Park and decided to take action to prevent it from happening again.
"I was very afraid. My wife and my sister and members of my team use this park on a daily basis and it could have been anybody we know. Sadly, it was this young woman," Pelaez said.
Police said the victim was jogging when an unknown man grabbed her, pulled her into the bushes and sexually assaulted her.
After hearing the news, Pelaez and several other city leaders wanted to train those who frequent the area.
"My team got together. We put out heads together, and we figured one thing that we might be able to do is offer free situational awareness and self-defense class at Hardberger Park,"
The plan to make the park safer includes an increase in patrols day and night. Pelaez said the city is also looking at several other safety measures.
"We have been talking about increasing the number of those call boxes. We've been talking increasing the number of park cameras at trailheads,” Pelaez said. “Over the past few years, we have made significant investment of emergency call boxes and cameras at trailheads, and I fully expect we will continue to make those investments.”
The self-defense workshop will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Phil Hardberger Park Urban Ecology Center.
