John Jefferson
Inset: Daman Smith (Flagler County Jail). Background: Palm Coast, Florida, home where Smith allegedly peered into a bedroom window. (WOFL/YouTube).
Cops in Florida arrested a man who was allegedly peeping into a 14-year-old girl’s bedroom window before being chased by her baseball-bat-wielding father.
Damon Smith, 29, is facing charges of aggravated stalking, prowling and voyeurism, records show. Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a home in Palm Coast shortly before 10 p.m. on Friday for a suspicious incident. The victim’s father said he was sitting outside his home with a bat because a man was creeping around his house, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
The dad said he first encountered the man on Thursday night and decided to sit out on Friday night and wait to see if he would show up again. While the father was waiting at his home Friday night, a silhouette of a person wearing white shoes emerged into his yard. According to cops, the father said he witnessed the suspect put his face against his daughter’s window with his “hands cupped around his eyes.” The father then swung the baseball bat at him. Smith ran and the father gave chase.
More from Law&Crime.com: ‘I love your Mickey ears’: Sex offender allegedly approached 10-year-old girl in Home Depot before stalking her in parking lot
“Call the cops! Call the cops! Somebody call the cops,” the father says on a home surveillance video obtained by Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL. “Where you going, boy? Come here! Come here! I got something for you!”
The father lost sight of Smith after tripping over some bushes, the affidavit said. Neighbors identified Smith as a possible suspect who lives nearby and is known to walk around the neighborhood wearing white shoes. Deputies went to Smith’s home to interview him, the affidavit said. He reportedly told them he was walking around the neighborhood and showed them the white shoes he was wearing. They had mud on them, cops noted. There was also mud on his elbow and he told cops he fell when he was out.
Smith showed them the dirty T-shirt he was wearing that depicted Michael Myers from the Halloween movie franchise with the quote “Everyone is entitled to one good scare.” He reportedly admitted that he ran from “some guy” who started chasing him while he was walking between houses. He also allegedly admitted to being in the same area the night before.
“When I asked why he goes around people’s homes, he stated something similar to, he gets a thrill and an adrenaline from it,” cops wrote.
There have been several reports of a man looking into windows in the area over the last few months. The victim’s father told WOFL that he’s just glad the alleged culprit has been arrested.
“I don’t know what his intentions are … if it was something that was going to escalate over time, and that [Michael Myers] was his role model or what, but we might have got him just in time,” he said.
The suspect remains at the Flagler County Jail with an $86,000 bond.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Read the full article here