Police are investigating a case that occurred last night near downtown Palo Alto, where an unknown suspect sexually battered a female pedestrian before fleeing on foot. The victim was not physically injured.
On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at about 9:32 p.m., a woman in her forties flagged down a passing police car on Bryant Street at Forest Avenue to report that she had just been sexually battered by an unknown suspect nearby.
The victim reported that she had been walking eastbound in the 300 block of Homer Avenue on the north sidewalk when she was approached from behind by a man who groped her buttocks while whispering something to her. She could not hear what he said but believed he may have been speaking Hindi. When she turned around to confront him, he fled westbound on Homer Avenue. She chased him but could not keep up and last saw him running westbound on the 200 block of Forest Avenue. The victim did not report any physical injuries to police.
The victim described the suspect as an adult male of unknown race or age, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 150 pounds. She said he was wearing dark jeans and a black short-sleeved T-shirt. As the victim did not get a look at his face, no sketch of the suspect will be done.
Detectives do not believe this suspect is the same person police arrested on October 1 for exposing himself to two separate women. For details of those cases and that arrest, read the news release we distributed on October 3.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
