Sometimes you gotta go, but that’s no excuse for urinating by a park within eyeshot of children.
That’s what Ashton Lunam is saying after witnessing a man doing just that near North Avenue Park this week.
“I was very shocked,” said the North Avenue resident.
“There was no being discreet at all.”
Lunam said she was driving past the park at about 5:15 pm Tuesday when she saw a man standing amid trees that line the fence along the park. His pants were pulled down to his knees, his buttocks exposed to her, as he appeared to be urinating.
Playing in the park about 10 to 15 feet away were two, perhaps three young children along with a young man, she said.
The children, and perhaps even people in a couple of nearby homes, would have definitely been able to see the man urinating, Lunam said.
She said she has observed people sleeping on benches in other parks in the community, but this incident made her especially concerned for children attending parks unattended.
That’s particularly true if the man she saw had been drinking, Lunam said, though it wasn’t clear whether he was under the influence. She did not recognize him and described him as being in his 30s or 40s with a tall, stocky build.
Lunam said she realizes the RCMP have a challenging job, but she is hoping they will increase foot patrols around parks to deter this type of behaviour.
Sgt. Mark Svaren of the Flin Flon RCMP said the type of incident Lunam witnessed is not common in the community.
He said public urination is a crime and is considered more severe if a suspect knowingly exposes themselves to others, particularly minors, than if he or she is intoxicated and lacks criminal intent.
Svaren said lack of criminal intent could mean no charges, but someone found urinating in public could still be arrested under different laws.
This isn’t the first time concerns over public urination have been raised in Flin Flon. It was one of the factors cited when the city sealed off the alleyway beside the former Hong Kong Restaurant in 2013.
