Update: Palo Alto police release suspect sketch in Sunday sexual assault
PALO ALTO -- Police in Palo Alto have released a suspect sketch in their investigation into a brazen daytime sexual assault over the weekend at the California Avenue pedestrian underpass.
Police said on Sunday shortly before 3 p.m., dispatchers received a report from a passerby who had discovered a woman at the California Avenue pedestrian underpass who said she had just been sexually assaulted there. Arriving officers determined that the victim, a woman in her fifties, had been walking her bicycle eastbound through the underpass when she was passed by the suspect, who was walking his bike in the opposite direction.
The suspect struck the woman from behind, causing her to fall to the ground, before he sexually assaulted her. The victim called for help, before the suspect took her cell phone and fled in an unknown direction. The passerby, who had not witnessed the assault, came to her aid and called police. Officers found the victim's cell phone in the 3000 block of Emerson Street at about 3:05 p.m. and are processing it for evidence.
Paramedics from the Palo Alto Fire Department transported the victim to an area hospital, where she received treatment for a laceration to the back of her head and bruising to her neck as well as a forensic medical examination.
The victim described the suspect as an Asian male between 30 and 40 years of age, about 5 feet 5 inches tall with a stocky build. She said he was cleanshaven, and was wearing a dark bike helmet, dark sunglasses, and a high-visibility yellow top. The victim met with a police sketch artist on Monday who produced a sketch of the suspect.
Police are continuing to investigate the case, canvassing the area for any available surveillance footage that may have captured the suspect before or after the assault. Police said there have not been any similar crimes recently reported in Palo Alto. Anyone with information about this attack is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.