Police Investigate Cases Of Violent Attacks Against Women In West Philadelphia
By Justin Finch
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Police and the University of Pennsylvania Campus Police are investigating cases of violent attacks against women that were reported within days of each other.
Authorities could not determine if the cases are linked.
About 8 p.m. Monday, police said a 23-year-old woman was on her way home when she was robbed of her purse, and sexually assaulted by a man on the 100 block of S. 47th Street.
The attack happened a short walk away from the SEPTA station at 46th and Market Streets.
Detectives said she tried to scream, but the man put his gloved hand into her mouth to silence her. The victim said the man appeared to have been scared off by a male passerby. She said the attacker did get away with her purse.
"The boldness of this guy indicates that we really need to identify this guy and take him off the street," said Capt. John Darby, commander of the Philadelphia Police Department's Special Victims Unit, the agency handling the case.
The offender is described as a black man in his 30's with a trimmed beard. He was last reported wearing a blue jacket, a black knit hat, and a black backpack.
Two days earlier on Saturday, around 1:45 p.m., Penn Campus Police said a woman affiliated with the University was grabbed and dragged by a man who refused to give him her purse. Witnesses stepped in to help, and the man got away without her purse.
"I think a stranger that walks up, and helps you when you're in trouble that's a blessing," said Sydney Stevenson who lives near where the near-robbery took place.
Police continue to investigate both cases.
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