Dallas Council Questions Police Over Increased Number Of Rapes In City
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Two days before a 17-year-old Dallas girl was sexually assaulted and stabbed on her way to school, city council members questioned Dallas police on a slight increase in the number of rapes.
According a crime report presented to the city's public safety committee, crime overall is falling, but rapes are up 5 percent compared to this time last year.
Dallas police say Wednesday's attack near a bus stop on the 4700 block of Maple Avenue is not a common occurrence. "That does not happen every day. That man was a predator," said Dallas Police Special Investigations Lt. Eno Fite, who oversees adult sex crime investigators.
Surveillance video from a nearby liquor store appears to show a man suddenly bolting after the girl, as she turned a corner.
According to police records, the victim told officers the man grabbed her, raped her and stabbed her behind a dumpster.
>>READ: King Affidavit (redacted)<<
Statistics provided by the Dallas Police show over the span of a decade the number of rapes in Dallas has actually fallen by more than a third.
In 2001, victims reported 660 sexual assaults. Last year, they reported 428.
Dallas police also estimate roughly 70 percent of the sexual assaults they handle were committed by someone the victim knows.
MORE: Homeless Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting, Stabbing Teen Student
