A female student of was reportedly sexually assaulted over the weekend while walking in a residential area on Yosemite Drive near .
The assault occurred sometime between 11:45 p.m. last Friday and 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, Field Sgt. Ed Mourthi of the Occidental College Department of Campus Safety said.
Mourthi described the suspect as a male, about 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall, dressed in a T-shirt of unknown color and green shorts. “We’re still trying to determine” if the suspect was armed and if he threatened the student in any way with a knife or a gun, Mourthi said.
The suspect approached the student from behind and “pulled her into a dark spot between Eagle Rock High School and Eagle Rock Boulevard—we don’t know exactly where,” Mourthi said, adding: “We do have students who rent homes in the area.”
The Occidental College Department of Campus Safety issued a campus-wide alert after being notified of the assault on Saturday morning, Mourthi said. The incident was reported on a local TV station on Wednesday night, he said.
“We always tell our students to walk in groups, to use well-lit streets and to avoid dark streets,” Mourthi said, adding: “If you’ve been on Yosemite Drive, you’ll know how dark it is.”
In February, an Eagle Rock resident who was jogging in Yosemite Park was brutally assaulted by several young men who were skateboarding there.
Oxy’s Campus Safety officers escort students within a three-block radius of the college campus, Mourthi said, adding that students are encouraged to call Campus Safety if they encounter someone who looks “sketchy.”
LAPD Officer Young Honor, who answered the phone at the Northeast Community Police station, said he had heard “a student had been raped.” However, only the LAPD’s so-called sex detectives would be able to provide details about the investigation on Thursday morning, Honor said.
Check back with Eagle Rock Patch for updates about this case.
