Women say frightening encounters with Asheville man keep happening. Why hasn't it stopped?

A walk through a neighborhood should not feel like a risk. But for years, women in Asheville have said they have changed how they walk, run, shop and move through the city because of encounters they associate with one man: Bruce Haddock. News 13 first reported on Haddock in 2022, after dozens of women came forward saying he followed them or made them feel unsafe in and around Montford, downtown Asheville and nearby greenways. Nearly four years later, women are still coming forward with stories of similar experiences. ‘Full sprint chasing me’ One woman, 23, told me she was walking to work downtown last spring along the Reed Creek Greenway when she noticed a man sitting on a bench. She said she was alone and paying attention to her surroundings when the man started following her. “I picked up my pace a little bit,” she said. “He sped up a little bit with me.” Then, she said, she started running. “I started to run because I was scared and he started to chase me,” she said. “Full sprint chasing me.” She said she ran toward Fire Station 13 on Broadway Street, banging on the doors and yelling for help. “I’m a young woman, what am I gonna do?” she said. “Here is this like 6-foot, 200-pound man barreling towards me.” She said the man veered away after seeing her run toward the police and fire station area. Later, she said, she identified the man as Haddock and called police to file a report. “I really did not want to know what was going to happen if he had caught me,” she said. She said the experience stayed with her for months. “It was easily, absolutely the worst day of my life,” she said. A second woman, 20, told me she was walking a trail in Montford with a 17-year-old friend when Haddock passed them, stopped, turned around and began walking behind them. “As soon as he passed by, I just got this weird feeling,” she said. She said she tried to stay calm, kept her friend near a group of people and watched Haddock from the corner of her eye. “I was worried that if I startled him or made it clear that I was looking at him and knew that he was behind us, that if he had a weapon or like a knife or a gun, I didn’t know,” she said. The two women ran to a fire station. A firefighter helped them, she said, and a police officer later took a report. The officer’s reaction stayed with her. “She’s like, ‘Oh yeah. I know who that is. We get a lot of calls about him,’” the woman said. How many calls constitute “a lot?” News 13 went to the Asheville Police Department for the numbers. What the records show Asheville police said they identified 14 documented incidents involving Haddock since 2020. The department said those incidents included field contacts, arrests and citations. Police did not characterize that number as every call for service or every informal officer interaction involving Haddock. That number also does not capture every encounter that was reported to News 13 Investigates. During the course of this investigation, more than 14 women reached out with experiences, concerns or information involving Haddock. Some said they filed reports. Some said they did not. Others described warnings shared between neighbors, coworkers, runners and women walking downtown. News 13 could not independently verify every account described. The official record shows what was documented by police and what moved into the court system. It does not necessarily show every time someone felt afraid, changed direction, avoided a greenway, carried protection or warned another woman. Police said Haddock has been arrested four times since 2020: Aug. 11, 2022; July 8, 2025; Feb. 13, 2026; and April 28, 2026. The department also said Haddock had one current outstanding warrant from May 22, 2026. Court records show Haddock has faced charges over the years. However, a charge is not a conviction. Records show a 2020 second-degree trespassing case and a 2021 simple possession case were dismissed by the district attorney’s office. A 2025 misdemeanor stalking case stayed in the court system for 8 months before it was disposed. Two trespass-related cases from 2025 led to Haddock’s arrest in February 2026. Those cases were later disposed. READ THE FULL STORY: https://wlos.com/news/local/asheville...