Meet Josue Pierre, the Rickenbacker Causeway Creeper. The 25-year-old has a skeevy way of trying to pick up women — by groping the most intimate parts of their bodies. Four ladies jogging on the William Powell Bridge of the causeway experienced Pierre's personal-space-invading mitts the morning of August 13. "If I had let him get away with it, he'd still be out there," says Maria, one of his victims, who asked that her last name not be used. "That guy violated me."
According to a Miami Police arrest report, Pierre snuck up on his first victim from behind and rubbed his hands on her butt cheeks. She turned and pushed him away. He went in the opposite direction and came upon his second victim. As he walked alongside her, Pierre grabbed her left butt cheek. The startled woman turned to look at Pierre, who laughed and continued on his stroll. A few minutes later, he crossed paths with his third victim and rubbed his hand up and down her thigh. She shoved him and he kept on trucking.
Shortly after, Pierre saw Maria walking toward him and went for her groin. "He grabbed my vagina," she says. "I mean a full grip. I was stunned." As she dialed 911 on her cell phone, she followed him. "I was mad as hell," Maria says. "I wasn't going to lose sight of him."
About 30 minutes later, Officer Joaquin Polanco had Pierre in custody. His other victims returned and provided their statements to the cop. "They had called 911 too, but no one had bothered to respond until I started chasing him," Maria says. "This is why people don't report crimes. They get discouraged."
According to the arrest report, Pierre allegedly told another officer that grabbing women was his "way of picking them up." He's been locked up in county jail since, but Maria fears he won't get any serious time and he'll be back on the Rickenbacker soon. Polanco charged Pierre only with misdemeanor battery. Maria spoke to the case prosecutor, who allegedly told her that Pierre could not be charged with felony sexual battery because he didn't penetrate her or the other women.
"No one has the right to touch me or grab me," she says.