A 57-year-old man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly climbed onto the stage at Hollywood's Hispanic Heritage Festival and exposed his bare backside to a crowd of more than 200 people, including children, late Saturday night. William Douglas Herring was taken into custody by Hollywood police officers shortly after the incident at ArtsPark at Young Circle, according to authorities.
Herring allegedly climbed onto the stage without authorization just after 10 p.m., according to authorities, as reported by NBC 6 South Florida. A police report says he exposed his rectal area toward the public in a vulgar manner in front of the gathered crowd. He now faces charges of indecent exposure and trespassing, according to case records.
The venue itself, ArtsPark at Young Circle, is a 10-acre civic park at Hollywood Boulevard and U.S. 1 featuring a 2,500-capacity outdoor amphitheater with a 60-by-40-foot main stage, according to the City of Hollywood. The Hispanic Heritage Festival ran from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. that Saturday, with a Parade of Nations and flat-rate parking at nearby garages, per the city's event listing. The late-night exposure incident appears to have occurred after the festival's scheduled programming had concluded.
Charges Carry Up to a Year in Jail
Herring was taken to Broward County Jail following his arrest, and a judge set his total bond at $1,500, per the same NBC 6 account. As of Monday, he had not posted bond. Under Florida Statute § 800.03, unlawful exposure of sexual organs in public in a vulgar or indecent manner is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail, one year of probation and a $1,000 fine for a first offense, according to Online Sunshine, the state's official statutes portal.
The accompanying trespassing charge, under Florida Statute § 810.09, covers unauthorized entry onto property other than a structure or conveyance, according to The Florida Senate. Florida law treats uninvited entry onto a public stage area during an event as criminal trespass, separate from whatever conduct follows once someone is there.
A Festival Celebrating Hollywood's Largest Community
The timing adds a layer of unfortunate irony to the arrest. Hispanic or Latino residents make up 43.2% of Hollywood's population, the city's largest racial or ethnic group, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Across Broward County more broadly, Hispanic residents represent 35.0% of the total population, with the county recognized as one of Florida's most ethnically diverse.
The festival also fell within National Hispanic Heritage Month, the federally recognized 30-day observance running from September 15 to October 15 each year, established by law in 1988. For many families who turned out to celebrate at ArtsPark that Saturday, the evening's festivities were abruptly overshadowed by a stranger's arrest on the same stage where the Parade of Nations had taken place hours earlier.
Not the First Brush With Police at the Park
This isn't the first time ArtsPark at Young Circle has made headlines for a police intervention. In April, Hollywood police apprehended a federal probationer inside the park after he crashed into an electrical box during a traffic stop and fled on foot, Hoodline previously reported in its story about a fleeing probationer. And in May, Hollywood police arrested a 79-year-old resident on five misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure after neighbors reported he repeatedly walked around naked in an apartment complex's common spaces.
Court records have not yet indicated whether prosecutors will pursue the misdemeanor charges as filed or weigh any aggravating factors tied to the presence of children in the audience. For now, Herring remains charged with indecent exposure and trespassing stemming from Saturday night's incident at the civic park that anchors downtown Hollywood's cultural calendar.
