This story contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Blowing up on Nextdoor, Reddit and social media posts in D.C.’s Eckington neighborhood, a woman told police a man groped her while she was walking on U Street NE Sunday night.
A neighbor’s security camera also caught the incident on video.
The security camera shows the victim carrying a yoga mat on U Street near Lincoln Road NE at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. A man in a light-colored sweatshirt with the hood up comes jogging up behind her. He reaches out, grabs her posterior and keeps going.
Another camera captures what appears to be the same man running through an alley in the block.
A few seconds later, a neighbor — News4 is not using his name — passed by on his bike.
“This young woman was waving at me, standing in my way, and like flagged me down. I took out my headphones and I was like, ‘Can I help you?’ And she was very, very distressed. And she had told me she had been sexually assaulted,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Where? What happened?’ She was asking me what she should do, and I told her go ahead and call the police, at least to file a police report.”
He said he took off in the direction the suspect ran.
“I went down Lincoln Road, and he dipped into the alley, so I wasn’t able to find him. So I came back to the young woman who was still very, very distressed,” he said.
The victim did file a police report, and detectives are investigating. News4 has learned there have been other similar incidents in the area, possibly unreported for reasons unknown.
News4 has also learned some residents have created a group chat in which they relay sightings and other information related to the suspect. A number of women have commented on social media posts about this, saying they too have had a similar experience with this man.
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