One of Deep Ellum's long nightmares is over. Dallas police have arrested a local spine doctor suspected of flashing multiple women during the past few months.
Police picked up Reginald Newsome, who works for the iSpine Clinic, on Wednesday night, and he posted bail early Thursday morning. Nobody answered the phone Thursday afternoon at the clinic, which had a full voicemail box. It has locations in downtown Dallas and Keller. According to Dallas County Appraisal District records, Newsome owns a condo on Canton Street in Deep Ellum.
Newsome has been subject of an online manhunt led by Deep Ellum artist Preston Pannek. He says that after hearing about the flasher and seeing pictures of his car on the Deep Ellum Community Watch Facebook page last week, he decided to look for the suspect's black BMW. It didn't take long for Pannek to find Newsome.
"I shit you not, he parked in front of my store — I own The Lash Loft, and I live in the warehouse behind it," Pannek tells the Dallas Observer. "He's parked right here in front of my place, door open, pants off, the whole deal."
Pannek says he got out of his car and tried to grab Newsome, but Newsome was too fast. The suspected flasher hopped in his car and drove away, leading Pannek on a chase through Deep Ellum and Exposition Park.
"It was an interesting chase. He has a very fast car; I have a very big car," Pannek says. He says he backed off when police officers said they were on their way, and Newsome managed to get away.
The Dallas Police Department declined to comment on the investigation.
Pannek says he and his friends kept an eye out for Newsome's car, which features an "iSpine" vanity plate. When the car returned to the area near Newsome's condo, Pannek called DPD again. This time, he says, Newsome was arrested.
"He was trying to hide" his car, Pannek says. "He parked it at the Camden Farmers Market apartments and took off his front license plate and backed his car up to some bushes so you couldn't see his back license plate, but it was super obvious."
According to WFAA-TV (Channel 8), Newsome's arrest warrant lists cases in which he is suspected of exposing himself to women, including the one for which he was arrested. That alleged crime happened outside of Deep Ellum, in the parking lot of the Cityplace Target.