Terrible news from the Third Creek Greenway: a woman has been fatally stabbed, suffering from multiple stab wounds.
It happened around 7:30 PM near West High School. A suspect was reported to be at large, with witnesses who were able to describe the assailant. A "person of interest" was detained for interviews, but no additional details were made available.
Commenters on local news sites have pointed out that this looks like the "spur" of Third Creek Greenway connecting sutherland Avenue to the Third Creek Greenway.
Later reporting from Knoxville News Sentinel
confirmed this:
The attack was reported at 7:24 p.m., about an hour before dark. Responding officers discovered the deceased victim with multiple stab wounds about 150 yards down the greenway from a trailhead parking lot on the 3100 block of Sutherland Avenue, Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.
I've followed the comments on the stories and notice a lot of people are talking about the need for a concealed carry right in public parks. Politics of that debate aside, I'm not sure that's realistic, simply because guns are expensive and as former
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam has pointed out, greenways and parks are often adjacent to or cross gun-free school zones.
UPDATE: Police have a person of interest in custody in connection to the stabbing this evening on Third Creek Greenway. We now know a woman died from multiple stab wounds. DETAILS: http://on.wbir.com/1FJoq70
Posted by WBIR Channel 10 on Sunday, May 3, 2015
Police are now investigating a stabbing on the Third Creek Greenway as a homicide. DETAILS -->http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/Police-investigating-homicide-on-Knoxville-Greenway-302367101.html
Posted by WVLT Local 8 on Sunday, May 3, 2015
Unfortunately not many people seem to be aware that we have a dedicated parks and greenway patrol unit in the City of Knoxville.
In fact, KPD always has a representative at our greenways commission meetings to provide input from the law enforcement community's perspective.
As of 2013 when the unit was officially launched, the unit had 9 officers patrolling 7 days a week.
That's excellent.
However, I think it's time that we add more officers.
Part of the point of the parks and greenway patrol unit is to deter crime.
Sgt. Sammy Shaffer has stated that just the sight of an officer on a bike can deter illegal activity.
But logistically speaking, the deterrent would be more effective with more officers.
I'm unsure of the costs of adding on more patrols and more officers - it seems like greenway patrol would be a popular detail, though.
Another option might be to have more "greenway rangers" acting as eyes and ears for existing officers, who might not have the same training as an officer in terms of law enforcement, but who could assist with ensuring safety. Regular, dense patrols would be an excellent deterrent to crime on greenway trails.
This latest incident is particularly troubling to me because it is the fourth local incident of a woman being the victim of crime on a greenway. One incident near Ijams on the Will Skelton Greenway happened in
August 2013; another soon after in
September, 2013 - the student assaulted said she saw the man again a half our later. Then within the same 3 week timeframe, another incident - this time a man with a knife threatening a woman - on a
West Knoxville Greenway. Outside the Knoxville area, a woman was assaulted on a walking path between Sugarlands Visitor Center and Gatlinburg in
June 2009, and in Maryville's Greenbelt in 2003 and 2008. These are just the ones in recent memory and that have been reported - is it any wonder that women might not feel safe on greenways?
We need to make sure all our residents are safe on greenways, but especially women. Enjoying the city's greenway trails must not become a terrifying prospect to women. Fear and safety concerns risk cutting off half of the city's residents from greenways.
Every solution incurs a cost - from mere dollars to broader issues like erosion of civil liberties from increased surveillance.
However there are certainly ideas out there worth pursuing.
For example: an emergency alert system for runners and joggers.
A simple approach would be to use Twitter to deliver timely alerts to mobile phones via text message:
I toyed around with this idea for a time
for my neighborhood.
Basically, when something happens, a Tweet goes out to my
neighborhood alert twitter account.
Those who subscribe via simple message service (SMS), aka "text message," would get a weekly alert for crime updates - OR - in the case of an emergency - a special message.
This can be useful for a couple of reasons:
First - ensuring safety. If you're about to start your evening run, you don't want to head out on the trail if there's a criminal on the loose.
Second - it can assist with apprehending a suspect - picture or text description.
Third - alerting nearby trail users to a person in need - a fellow hiker or runner might be closer than a first responder.
It's unfortunate that we don't have an alert system in place from city government - which could be useful for trail emergencies of all types, including natural hazards.
A second major solution might be to install emergency "blue light" call boxes at regular, predictable intervals. In an emergency or panic situation - a cell phone might not be the most reliable option. But, knowing an emergency call box was within reach - which are often equipped with large buttons that can easily be pressed in a panic - could go a long way to adding piece of mind and functional help to those in need.
Along these lines, we could look at cameras. While there are concerns about surveillance, the incident at Ijams and the Great Smoky Mountains both required a police sketch. A camera might help not only with deterrence but with apprehending assailants.
Witnesses were key to preventing a second assault from happening at Ijams - but witness descriptions require someone to be around. Cameras are always around!
Finally, we need more officers in the city's
Greenway Patrol Unit. Officers are the single best deterrent to crime - and they are also first responders to injuries. We only have 9 officers in the unit right now, and although they patrol 7 days a week and
even after dark, with 4,000 patrols made in the first year (2013 - 2014)
But the fact is, our trail mileage and Park acreage is greater than what our officers can reasonably be expected to patrol at the level of intensity that might be optimal to deter and prevent crime. Officers on the trails increases our police visibility, which hopefully will deter crime and help increase perceptions of safety. It also directly impacts safety: officers on the trails get to know the trails and can respond to problems and accidents just like on our roads.
Now, a request that has come from KPD is that our trails have better markers. The city needs to undertake to assist our officers in responding to emergencies and problems is a system of mile markers, similar to what we see on the Interstates in Tennessee -
emergency reference markers.
The Knoxville Track club added
greenway mileage markers. I'm not exactly sure, but if memory serves these are placed every quarter of a mile. A higher density might be useful - but mile markers are particularly important in the urban wilderness for helping route emergency responders. Of course there's a cost, but I've been thinking that with all the beer drinking Knoxville biking community does, it'd be easy to save the aluminum cans, use tin snips to cut off aluminum, and
emboss mileage and trail names to place out in the Urban Wilderness and at tighter intervals on city greenway trails- at least as a temporary fix.
A more permanent fix may be to order trail markers from Voss Signs (
full catalog). Signs could also feature the relevant emergency numbers and can help connect to the appropriate first responders (Sevier County versus Knox County, for example). (Note: Always call 911 when you feel threatened or in danger).
The very sad and tragic news item is linked below - I think we owe it to our community's women to seriously take up the issue of safety on greenways and try eveything we can to be sure that "exercising while being a woman" is not a risk factor for victimization in our community.
Police investigating homicide on Knoxville Greenway:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)- Police in Knoxville say a woman was stabbed to death on the Third Creek Greenway.
Officers say it happened at about 7:24 on Sunday night.
When officers got there they say they found a woman dead with more than one stab wound.
Witnesses were able to give a description of the suspect as he fled.
A person of interest has been detained and taken to the safety building to be interviewed.
No further details were given.
