EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Police say a University of Oregon student was on her way home early Saturday morning when a man assaulted her. They say it happened around 2:00 a.m.
The student was walking back to her apartment near the corner of 19th Avenue and Harris Street when she says a man ran up to her, grabbed her, and tried to grope her. The suspect ran off after she started yelling at him and screaming for help. The location is just a block off campus, and many students live in the area. Brett Van Zanten, a junior at the U of O, was asleep in his apartment close by at the time of the attack. He says his four roommates all woke up when they heard the woman yelling for help.
“They said they heard a big shriek and someone yelling, 'Help me! Help me!' multiple times,” says Van Zanten. “They said they came out onto the balcony and tried to find out what was going on. The guys had already left, but she was still standing, waiting for I think probably the cops.”
Molly Smith, another U of O student who lives just up the block from where the incident took place, said she wasn’t surprised when she got the Campus Crime Alert email.
"It just seems like a lot of sketchy things are going on, and it's scary though. Last year, I felt completely safe in this area, and now it's just seems like a lot of stuff is going on,” says Smith. She says her car tires were slashed two nights ago, and that this most recent incident has left her feeling unsafe. She says she and her friends never walk alone at night.
The suspect is a white man, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a chubby build. The victim says he was wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, with the hood drawn tight around his face. The suspect's description does not match up with that of the suspect(s) involved in the two recent assaults near the Oregon State campus.
Anyone with information about this, or similar incidents, is asked to call UOPD at 541-346-2919, or Eugene Police at 541-682-5111.
