Hines Park has the Rouge River running through it. If you are on the running path there is usually some bushes then the water. It can be seen from the road along some stretches. The area in Livonia where the incident occurred is not as populated as others because there is not much along the road in that area. Other stretches of Hines Drive have public gathering areas such as baseball diamonds, picnic areas, washrooms.... I used to run along that stretch a few years ago because the house I lived in backed up to the park and I could just walk down a hill and be on the jogging path, but I always took my dog.
He is really brazen, the jogging path is right next to the road, and cars come by all the time. It is rare to not see any traffic on the road. I drive it often because it only has 1-2 stoplights the whole way and the traffic flows really well.
Here is a pic of how close the jogging path is to the road, and the line of trees on the left have the river right behind it.