UIC Student Sexually Assaulted In Broad Daylight Near Campus
UPDATED 02/03/12 5:45 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police are warning students at the University of Illinois at Chicago to be on the lookout, after a woman was attacked and sexually assaulted right in the middle of the Rush medical campus.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, the 24-year-old woman was not attacked for her money, her cell phone or her purse. She was attacked for the express purpose of being sexually assaulted, and it happened in broad daylight.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller reports
Podcast
Police said two men grabbed a 24-year-old woman on Paulina Street, just south of Harrison Street, sometime between 2:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The block of Paulina Street where the assault happened is right in the center of the Rush University Medical Center campus, with a parking structure on the east side of the street, and the Armour Academic Center on the west.
The men pulled a dark hat over the woman's head and eyes, according to a campus crime alert. They took her into a vehicle at knifepoint, forced her inside, and sexually assaulted her.
But it didn't end there. After the rape, the attackers punched the woman and beat her, before they finally pushed her out of the car. She hit the ground and lost consciousness.
According to police, the woman woke up in a parking lot in the 700 block of South Paulina Street, between Flournoy and Polk streets. She walked a few blocks to UIC Medical Center, where she was treated and released.
The attackers did not take anything from the woman, police said.
Another UIC student said the brazen attack has her thinking she might need protection.
"Don't travel alone, but sometimes you can't help it," said Juanita Brown, "because especially if you're a student… mace or something to protect yourself."
Police said no one was in custody as of Friday morning.
