Police: 2 new sexual assaults reported on U-M campus during weekend
After a 19-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted in Ann Arbor early Monday morning, University of Michigan police said two other women reported sexual assaults that took place earlier in the weekend.
University of Michigan Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown reported two 18-year-old women said they had been sexually assaulted, one Friday afternoon and one Saturday night. Brown said police do not know at this point if the incidents are related.
The first 18-year-old student reported she was at the Ruthven Museum, 1109 Geddes Ave., between 5 and 6 p.m. Friday, when the man followed her around. The man rubbed the woman’s elbow and grabbed her buttocks, Brown said.
The woman reported the incident to police at 1:23 p.m. Monday.
The woman said her attacker was a 5-foot-7 Chinese man with short hair and an average build with a clean and neat appearance and a thick native Chinese accent.
The second student, also 18 years old, came forward a little more than two hours earlier, reporting to police at 11 a.m. Monday that she had been grabbed on her leg and chest by a man while at Michigan Stadium Saturday night.
The woman was at the stadium, 1201 S. Main St., watching the school's football game against the University of Alabama on the stadium's scoreboards, Brown said.
The second woman said the man who groped her was Asian, was about 5-feet-6 inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds with a stocky, muscular build. He had short hair and was clean shaven with a round face. She said he did not have an accent and was wearing a baseball hat, light pink shorts and blue sunglasses. The woman did not know the color of the man’s shirt.
Both women told police they reported the assaults after reading the crime alert sent to the U-M community regarding an off-campus attack early Monday morning.
A 19-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted by a 5-feet-6 inch tall Asian man about 2:45 a.m. Monday while walking in the 1800 block of Washtenaw Avenue. The man, who was wearing a baseball hat, approached her from behind and grabbed her crotch and chest. He fled the area on foot after the woman screamed, according to police.
Ann Arbor police Lt. Renee Bush said she was not aware of the reports from the U-M police as of 9 a.m. Tuesday, and investigators from the department would be checking with campus police to further the investigation.
University police updated Monday's crime alert with the information from the new reports Monday morning.
View 1109 Geddes Ave in a larger map
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
UtrespassM
Fri, Sep 7, 2012 : 1:24 a.m.
Asian guys??? Are both women Asian? The woman said her attacker was a 5-foot-7 Chinese man with short hair and an average build with a clean and neat appearance and a thick native Chinese accent. The second woman said, the man who groped her was Asian, was about 5-feet-6 inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds with a stocky, muscular build. He had short hair and was clean shaven with a round face. She said he did not have an accent and was wearing a baseball hat, light pink shorts and blue sunglasses.
PoliSci
Wed, Sep 5, 2012 : 6:55 p.m.
A serious and widespread warning from the UM and Ann Arbor Police needs to go out regarding the possibility of sexual assaults in Ann Arbor. Though the city and campus are safer than a lot of localities too many women are walking around often at night totally oblivious of their surroundings, talking on cell phones, headphones on etc. On weekends many obviously intoxicated. Of course they have every right to walk around at any time and be unmolested. But before incidents sky rocket people need to be warned about tacking simple precautions like walking around in groups etc.
Chase Ingersoll
Tue, Sep 4, 2012 : 10:04 p.m.
If 15 percent of Washtenaw County is Asian, the percentage is probably higher in Ann Arbor, and if the guy grabs an Asian woman or anyone that knows any Asians personally, they are easily going to be able to tell a more particular Asian ethnicity from the physical features, accent, and the clothing. This perp is toast because the weather is going to be hot for another month, so there is no way that he is going to be able to control himself. And even if he hides, everyone who reads about the Asian guy in pink shorts is going to remember the last time they saw that.
Kyle Feldscher
Tue, Sep 4, 2012 : 5:48 p.m.
I spoke to Diane Brown this afternoon and was told the information on the department's crime log was incorrect. One of the reports came in at 11 a.m. Monday, not after 3 p.m. as was listed on the report. That information has been corrected.
Ricebrnr
Tue, Sep 4, 2012 : 4:27 p.m.
"The woman said her attacker was a 5-foot-7 Chinese man with short hair and an average build with a clean and neat appearance and a thick native Chinese accent." Without casting doubt on the victim, I am curious as to the accuracy of this report. I have found non-Asians to be rather poor judges of ethnicity in this arena even when they are casually acquainted with us. Asians, can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese, Korean etc usually at a glance and with confirmation upon hearing the language, others rarely.
Anna
Tue, Sep 4, 2012 : 4:54 p.m.
That is how the victim described him. I can only speculate that she was able to identify, with precision, the ethnicity of the attacker, or she was just trying to be as descriptive as possible. I highly doubt she was trying to be disparaging towards the Asian community.