To find this man in park suspicious

[HammerTimeNC]

NC but long time regular, since Pom Bear days.

Packing up my car whilst leaving a park today, I was aware of a man, aged around 30, sitting nearby with what I think were walking poles, looking in our direction.

After I said goodbye to my sister who was in a car in front, the man said to me he had an odd request...he asked that I drive him to his car which we could see, less than a 20-second walk away, because he was limping. I had my teenage daughter with me so I asked her to move to the back seat and he sat in the front passenger seat.

He mentioned this was the first time he had been to this park and his girlfriend had taken the dog for a walk and was annoyed with him as he couldn't walk.

He then struggled out of my car and sat in the driver seat of his own car.

I am now wondering why he didn't wait for his gf to drive him, and how he was going to drive with poor mobility. And I feel very irresponsible for putting my daughter at risk (so please be gentle with me).

You’re being a bit paranoid I think, there were two of you. Also he didn’t do anything.. so the evidence suggests he wanted a lift like he said.

Look it may have been really benign but the way things are in relation too safety please
dont do it again …. I know I know we all like to help but unfortunately we have a lot of bad people in our world . But don’t think too long or hard about it nothing happened and you went on it merry way

Ooh, I've been waiting ages to give a classic MN response. Call 101 and log it, you never know when they might need this seemingly irrelevant piece of a jigsaw.🤔

The story as you’ve told it sounds like someone with mobility problems. Perhaps problems which fluctuate or he has a new illness which he is just getting used to. He may have been staring at you because he felt diffident about asking for help. He may have known that it would sound like an odd request, to be driven such a short distance . Perhaps he was feeling cold and didn’t want to wait for his girlfriend to get him back to the car, or he needed the greater support of the car seat. Perhaps he’d been on a walk with his gf but misjudged his capacity and had struggled to get back to the car park.
It doesn’t sound like you put your daughter at risk.

I'd be checking no airtag etc was dropped in your car...

Was it Ted Bundy that used to fake a broken arm and ask people to help him put things in his car?

I told my sister what was happening as I just managed to catch her before she drove off. She then watched us but thought it was odd and said I shouldn't have let a stranger in the car.

Correct answer.....

I mean you just don't know....

Start your own thread but what the hell of course you leave him. Why do you think that's unreasonable

Just because he struggles walking doesn’t mean he’d struggle driving

Yes it was. He'd fake injury then ask women to help in order to get them into a vehicle.

and how he was going to drive with poor mobility

People drive with poor walking mobility ALL the time. Even without adapted cars. Just because he had a limp doesn't mean he wouldn't be safe to drive.

I am a bit on the fence about this one, people are being stopped from helping people because of an unlikely event that something will happen. The man sounds like he was in a lot of pain and he didn't want his girlfriend to get even more annoyed at him. He didn't do anything so you know his true intention and I'm pretty sure he didn't drop an air tag in your car.
@HannaMaddie you should be suspicious and you need to get out if that relationship foe the sake of your sister and yourself.

You did put yourselves at risk.If he was genuine he should have asked a man for help.Most men realise women would be wary of letting strange men in their car and would wait till a man came along.
Dont ever risk your safety for anyone again.

My dad would never ever ask a stranger for any kind of help but physically he could be that chap. Struggles to walk to far, uphill or any sort of distance but can drive perfectly well. Just to say the situation itself is not unfeasible.

While I agree with your sister, we’ve all agreed to odd requests when we’ve been totally thrown by them. Don’t dwell on it.

Personally I would never let a strange man in to my car, go near their car, stop to help etc. You did the right thing in asking your sister to watch though, so didn't exactly put your daughter at risk.

If you are ever in a similar situation just say you are sorry but aren't able to help. Most normal men wouldn't put a woman in that situation.

Women and girls have been conditioned by society to want to help and feel that they should. The minority of men who wish to do them harm know this and will use it to make women vulnerable. Equally, as above, the "good ones" are aware of this and would ask a man for help rather than put a woman in a situation which may make her uncomfortable.

Obviously nothing bad happened on this occasion but I think it's right to question. Sure, it's sad that we live in a society where we can't dole out help without a degree of paranoia but that's where we are.

That's what I thought old straight away.

OP please never let a stranger in your car again.

I think everyone is being ott. It honestly just sounds like the guy was struggling to walk and didn't want to be stood around waiting for his gf when he could sit in the car. Perhaps a bit of an odd request to ask a stranger but considering nothing bad happened he seems to have been legit.

Exactly, there were two of them, they presumably had mobiles, and as the driver you are in control of the vehicle.

I too thought of ted Bundy!

Presuming this was innocent and he wasn't a murderer, he's asking way too much of a stranger, a woman at that, without adult male company. For that alone it would be a NO

I mean we'll never know if he had bad intentions. As your sister stayed and didn't drive off we can assume this would put off anyone wanting to harm you.

Don't take the risk next time. Calmly explain that women are statistically at risk from men and tell him to ask a man. You don't need to put yourself or daughter in danger on the slight chance you might actually have found someone in genuine need.

I wonder how you'd feel if this was his trial run and the next time you hear about this someone is in a body bag. Yes predators do this.

Your last sentence is pretty ignorant. The disabled or people with mobility problems can still drive. We're not all like Stephen Hawkin.