Parking lot flasher fled from police, triggered car wash crash in Mesa, officials say
Jul 22, 2023, 7:15 AM
Isaiah Parsons, 27, allegedly exposed himself to a woman in an Old Navy parking lot and fled through multiple yards to escape police. (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office photo)
(Maricopa County Sheriff's Office photo)
PHOENIX — A Mesa man who sexually harassed a woman in a parking lot triggered a police chase on Tuesday, according to Maricopa County court documents.
Isaiah Parsons, 27, pulled up next to a woman in an Old Navy parking lot near Baseline and Signal Butte roads at around 10:45 p.m., the police report said.
Next, Parsons exposed his genitals and started pleasuring himself in front of her, according to court documents.
Officers arrived on the scene to respond to the sex crime, but Parsons had driven away, the court documents said. They found him in a nearby parking lot, lit up their police lights and blared their sirens so Parsons knew to pull over.
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The alleged parking lot flasher resisted arrest
However, Parsons fled onto a city street, triggering a police chase on ground and air, the court documents said.
A Mesa air unit tracked Parsons as he drove near a car wash and collided with another vehicle, according to police documents. The flasher and crasher then ran off, jumping over a fence and fleeing into the desert, the police report said.
Eventually Parsons ran into a nearby neighborhood, where he jumped walls and ran around multiple residential yards, court documents said.
Parsons put his body to the test while resisting arrest, according to the court documents.
Eventually, he climbed into a tree to avoid police contact in the foliage, the police report said. However, officers thwarted this camouflage attempt and took him into custody.
A slippery escape
Officials with the Mesa Fire and Medical Department found that Parsons needed further medical attention, police documents said. Parsons was put into an ambulance with hospital restraints and an officer accompanying him in the back, court documents said.
But Parsons had more fight left in him, according to what the court documents described next.
He slipped his feet out of the restraint and began kicking his legs, “creating substantial risk that [he] might assault an officer or firefighter.”
Once the hospital released him, Parsons moved to the back of a patrol car, court documents said. He slipped his handcuffs to the front of his body and started slamming his hands and head on the glass.
Officers eventually restrained the alleged parking lot flasher. According to court documents, he is currently being held on a $5,000 bond.
