A New Haven man was arrested in Hamden after police received reports that a person was exposing himself on the Farmington Canal Line in Hamden.
Police said officers responded to the trail behind the Town Walk housing complex on Hamden Hills Drive at 5:45 p.m. to investigate after a 27-year-old Meriden woman who was riding a bicycle on the trail a man sitting on a bench was exposing himself.
Officers patrolled the trail to look for the man and saw several children walking with their parents and several others walking and riding bikes.
As they were searching, a jogger approached officers in the Sanford Street area and said a man who was sitting on a nearby bench was “playing with himself," police said.
She said he was wearing a plaid shirt and dark pants, police said.
Officers found someone wearing similar clothing and said his body was “exposed to eye level of individuals traveling on the Canal Line.” As they approached, they saw his pants were unzipped and he was holding his genitals, according to a news release.
When officers approached the man, who they later identified as Francis Keen, a 63-year-old New Haven resident, he immediately zipped his pants. When officers asked what he was doing, Keen did not reply and placed his head down, police said.
Officers handcuffed him and placed him under arrest. Keen was charged with risk of injury to a minor, breach of peace in the second degree and public indecency.
Police said he is on the sex offender registry with several prior arrests on charges including sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
Bond was set at $50,000 and he is due in court on June 13.
