Police have acknowledged similarities in two recent sexual assault incidents: one on campus Tuesday, Jan. 7 and the other downtown on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Celina Oseguera
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Two sexual assault attempts occurred recently occurred in San Luis Obispo — one on the Cal Poly campus and the other downtown — according to police reports this week.
Details of the sexual assault on campus were disclosed to Cal Poly students through a university-wide email Tuesday. The assault occurred Jan. 7 at 12:30 a.m., according to police. The victim was walking from the A1 student parking lot next to the Administration building (building 1) toward the Julian A. McPhee University Union when the suspect allegedly crept up behind her and placed a pillowcase or bag over her head. She was able to escape, but did not see the assailant.
As of now, according to University Police Department (UPD) Chief George Hughes, there is little evidence on who the assailant is.
But Hughes and UPD did know the suspect in the on-campus sexual assault used tactics similar to the suspect in the downtown assault. Both approached their victim from behind and committed the act in the late evening or early morning.
The downtown assault happened at Chorro Street and Palm Street on Tuesday night around 11:30 p.m. The suspect approached the victim from behind, pulled her shirt up, grabbed her breasts, pulled her to the ground, got on top of her and attempted to pull her pants down, a San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD) press release said.
The woman screamed, which scared off the suspect. According to the release, he ran south across Palm Street into the parking lot behind the Palm Theater. A silver vehicle fled the area soon after, but it is not known if the suspect was driving the car. The suspect was described as a male wearing a bulky hooded sweatshirt.
SLOPD Lt. Bill Proll said he believed the victim was a Cal Poly student, and SLOPD Capt. Chris Staley acknowledged the similarities between the cases.
“We aren’t saying they aren’t connected,” he said.
Even with the small amount of details in the downtown case, Proll said there may be a connection.
“It is possible,” Proll told Mustang News. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a very good description, but the pattern could be similar.”
Kat Gore contributed to this article.