A group of men tackled and restrained a registered sex offender accused of looking at a teenager inside the women’s restroom at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in South Carolina on Sunday, KTLA sister station WSPA in Spartanburg reported.
The 15-year-old told police that the suspect was looking at her while she was in the women’s restroom at the restaurant in Duncan, according to authorities. The girl said she noticed something moving near her feet and realized it was a man’s head coming from the stall beside her.
After leaving the restroom, the girl told her father, who informed an employee. There was at least one other person inside the restroom at the time of the alleged incident.
“I’ll never forget the way they looked after,” a witness said. “They were traumatized.”
Duncan Police Chief Carl Long said the girl’s father confronted the suspect — identified as Douglas Lane, 53, of Charlotte, North Carolina — at the entrance to the bathroom.
“The guy came running, sprinting out the front door with a very bloody nose,” a witness said.
According to Long, Lane tried to run away, but other fathers aware of the incident helped tackle him in the parking lot and restrained him until police arrived.
Lane’s phone was found on the bathroom floor and taken by police.
Lane was charged with voyeurism, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He is a registered sex offender and has been charged with peeping at least eight times prior to this incident, WSPA reported.
During his bond hearing on Monday, Lane received a $2,000 surety bond and will be monitored by GPS. The judge said he must have no contact with the teen or her family.
The investigation into this incident is ongoing and more charges are possible.
