Palo Alto police seek suspect in sexual battery case

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Palo Alto police are still seeking a suspect in a sexual battery case reported in May by a woman who said a man assaulted her in his car after she agreed to his offer for a ride.

The female victim told police that at about 2:30 a.m. on May 30, she was walking in the 300 block of Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto when an unknown man drove up and asked if she needed a ride, police Lt. Zach Perron said.

The woman accepted the offer, got into his car and the driver then headed east on Hamilton Avenue, according to police.

Within about 20 minutes, the driver sexually assaulted the woman while driving the car, Perron said.

The woman opened the passenger car door and the driver slowed down and then pushed her out of the vehicle, according to police.

She went to a nearby home in the 100 block of Pope Street in Menlo Park, where a resident called police at about 3 a.m. Palo Alto police then took the woman to a hospital where she was treated for minor injuries and released.

The woman described the suspect as a man about 30 years old with short black hair who was unshaven with an unkempt goatee. His car was a dark-colored sedan with a dark interior, police said.

Palo Alto police are asking for the public's assistance in locating the suspect and urge anyone with information about him to call the department's dispatch center at (650) 329-2413, or to provide information anonymously by phone or text at (650) 383-8984.

There have been no similar cases reported in Palo Alto or surrounding areas since the incident, Perron said.