Woman recounts harassment by stranger outside store in Phoenix

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- A Valley woman's random encounter with a stranger is going viral.

The woman, Latisha Patterson, was trying to get to her car when she said a man she did not know started to follow and harass her.

Latisha told us she was shopping when a random man started to speak to her. Once it started to get uncomfortable, she decided to lose him and head to the door, but the man followed her.

The video shows the man follow Patterson to her car while she shopped at a Salvation Army store on Mohave and Central.

"He walked up on me cracking jokes, [like,] 'You know you don't want anything in this store. Let's go,'" Patterson recounted. "I thought I lost him, and I head out [of] the store and I didn't realize [he was following me] until I was crossing the street."

Patterson then took out her camera.

"I needed to use it as a mirror and let him know you're on camera, but he didn't go away," Patterson said.

Instead, the man became more aggressive.

"He followed me to my car," said Patterson. "I'm trying to get in, he ran straight to the passenger side."

The man then asked Patterson to delete the video.

"I'll delete [the video] because of my safety," said Patterson, in the video. "You just followed me around this store, and now, to my car."

"I didn't want to make any sudden movements because I didn't want to trigger him. Keep it calm and stay cool about it," said Patterson.

The incident is not under an open investigation, and Patterson said she just wants to tell women and young ladies to stay vigilant.

Video of the encounter
https://www.facebook.com/latisha.patterson.39/videos/2292125757535101/