By Drew Teague
dteague@kykernel.com
A woman was assaulted on East Maxwell Street Friday morning, police said.
Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said officers were dispatched to the 400 block of East Maxwell at 3:18 a.m.
“We got there and the female victim said she was walking home from a friend’s house when a male white suspect wearing a dark colored jacket or hoodie approached her from behind,” Roberts said. “He grabbed her and pushed her behind some bushes near the floral shop.”
After being pushed behind the bushes, the suspect attempted to remove the victim’s clothing, butshe pulled out a pocketknife to defend herself, Roberts said.
“At that time the suspect stopped attacking the victim and ran away,” Roberts said. “It is believed that the victim was cut with the knife and the victim was also cut with the knife on her hands and her arms, which is not unusual when you’re dealing with a situation like that.”
Police believe the suspect was cut because of a blood trail leading away from the scene.
Police would like more information about the suspect. Anyone with information can call Lexington police at 859-258-3600.
“If there was anybody in the area or anyone who knows anything about the situation we would ask that they give us a call,” Roberts said.
UK did not release a UK Alert nor a crime bulletin associated with the crime.
In an email to the Kernel, UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said UKPD uses the UK Alert and crime bulletins in accordance with the Clery Act.
“It is the policy of UK Police that UK Alerts only be sent for the purpose of communicating official information during an emergency or crisis situation that disrupts normal operation of the campus or poses an immediate threat to the health or safety of members of the campus community,” Monroe said in the email.
Monroe said hazardous material releases, active shooter incidents, tornado warnings, campus closures and delayed opening of campus would all be emergencies for which UK would issue a UK Alert.
Monroe also said that the location of the incident played a role in the decison not to issue a UK Alert or crime bulletin, and police want students to take the issued ones seriously and not become numb to an influx of them.
“Additionally, given that the geographic location of the incident at hand was not on campus, nor on public property directly adjacent to campus, a UK Crime Bulletin was not issued for the incident,” Monroe said.
It’s not prudent to walk alone at 3 a.m.–for men or women.
Regardless of whether or not it is “prudent” to be walking alone at 3 am, it happens, and NO ONE, men or women, should have to worry about being sexually assaulted. Sounds like societal problem to me! Let’s NOT blame the victim here. And why in the world would it not be a good idea to let the entire campus know of danger like this? Bad call, UK, very bad call.
They’ll issue an alert when someone has a phone or can of pepsi stolen from their hands but not this? Joe Monroe is a moron!
Kelly:
You’re right, we should all be able to live our lives with out the fear of being robbed, assaulted, raped etc….but the reality is, there are BAD people out there who want to hurt you.
Regardless of their motivation/reason/excuse-needlessly putting yourself into a dangerous situation that increases your risks is foolish.
The best thing to do is to stay out of Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.
This incident took place in a heavily populated studet neighborhood. UK, at the very least, ought to inform students of these risks. It is unacceptable to not act in the interest of the student body, and this is not proactive behavior on behalf of our law enforcement.
I agree completely!
Joe Monroe was too busy out wasting UK money and driving around in his pimped out Charger to issue the Alert.