Police: Van driver sexually assaulted 19-year-old customer

Ann Arbor police Lt. Renee Bush said the incident was reported to police on March 9. Bush said the man drove the woman and her friends to dinner and then to a bar. At about 2 a.m., the woman left the bar, recognized the man and requested he drive her back to her friend’s house, Bush said.

The man told her he needed to pick up other people and drop them off first, Bush said. After the man picked those customers up and dropped them off, he drove the woman to her friend’s house but no one was home, according to Bush.

The man said he had to pick up other customers but would drop her back off at her friend’s house afterward, Bush said. The man picked up those customers and then dropped them off.

Instead of returning to the woman’s friend’s house, the man drove to a wooded area, began kissing her on the cheek and put his hand on her thigh, Bush said. The woman told him to stop but he continued, so she escaped from the van and started running, Bush said.

The victim eventually came across another woman who drove her to her friend’s house, Bush said. The sexual assault was then reported at the police station.

It’s unclear where the wooded area was that the man sexually assaulted the woman because the woman is from out of state and is unfamiliar with Ann Arbor, Bush said.

The woman is able to identify the man, and the incident is still under investigation.