El Cerrito police are asking for the public’s help after a hearing and sight impaired woman was sexually battered while walking down the sidewalk.
A video showed the victim walking to her hair salon with the help of a cane Wednesday afternoon when police say she was sexually assaulted. “The person was walking on Stockton Avenue, and she has limited sight, limited, hearing,” said Lt. Lauren Caputo with the El Cerrito Police Department. “A man approached from behind and smacked her on the buttock, and then took off running.”
On Monday, El Cerrito police released surveillance footage of a person of interest, who was seen running across the street and approaching the victim from behind. Unfortunately, the recording stopped before capturing any contact that may have happened.
“A man approached from the other side of the street, crossed the street towards the victim, and we’re interested in talking to that person and identifying him,” Caputo said.
Another neighbor’s video showed the victim a few minutes later, stopping and checking behind her before continuing on to the hair salon.
“It’s extremely distressing to know someone can be assaulted randomly at any time of the day especially broad daylight,” said Bridget Gillum, who works at the Reflections Hair Design salon.
Gillum added the woman made it to her appointment where she used an app on her phone to communicate. The victim’s stylist said her client told her about the assault and the stylist even checked outside to see if the attacker was still there. The salon staff said they’re proud she’s speaking out.
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The victim has posted her story on social media, asking neighbors to check their cameras for evidence. Flyers have also been taped up in the area to help get the word out, neighbors are on the lookout.
“I think it’s disgusting, taking advantage of a poor lady there’s a lot of crazy folks everywhere. Hopefully, they’ll find this guy,” said El Cerrito resident John Aguirre.
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The victim spoke out and released the following statement to NBC Bay Area on Monday:
"I feel as though my freedom and sense of safety has been stolen. I had an event to attend in Berkeley the next day and Uber there when I normally would have taken mass transit. I didn’t want the perp to steal my power, so I pushed through the event but was having a hard time. I ended up dissociating throughout the day, so I left the event early via Uber. Ridesharing is not financially sustainable for me, so I hope this perp is caught sooner than later."
