A convicted sex offender was tackled and then detained by a group of fathers on Sunday in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Duncan, S.C., after a 15-year-old girl claims the man of looking under bathroom stalls in the ladies’ room, according to WSPA 7 News, Spartanburg, S.C.
The teen said she noticed something moving at her feet and realized it was a man’s head coming from the stall beside her, according to the report.
The Duncan Police Department confirmed that 53-year-old Douglas Lane of Charlotte, N.C., has been charged with voyeurism, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The girl told her father about the incident after exiting the restroom. Her father got a female employee to get the man out of the bathroom, after which the girl’s father confronted Lane at the entrance to the bathroom area of the restaurant.
A witness said, “The guy came running, sprinting out the front door with a very bloody nose.” He then tried to get away, but other fathers, aware of the situation, reportedly tackled Lane in the parking lot and restrained him until police arrived.
A group of men stopped this guy from getting away after Duncan, South Carolina police say a 15-year-old girl spotted him looking underneath the bathroom stall inside the Cracker Barrel on Sunday. Douglas Lane, of Mecklenberg County, is a registered sex-offender in North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/ASeLDKn0pe
— James Hughes (@JamesHu94283365) September 21, 2020
WSPA 7 reported that a witness said, “Everyone was yelling, ‘Get him! Get him! Don’t let him get away.” One man who helped was heard yelling at Lane, “I’m gonna tell you, if that were my daughter, you wouldn’t walk away.”
Apparently, the 15-year-old wasn’t the only girl in the bathroom. “I’ll never forget the way they looked after,” a witness said of the girls. “They were traumatized.”
Lane is a registered sex offender and has been charged for peeping at least eight times prior to this incident.
Lane’s phone was found on the bathroom floor and was taken by police. An investigation is ongoing and more charges could be possible.
Maybe he’s running for office and was just trying to get votes from future constituents?