Victim Sends Text, “Please Help Me.”
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COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) –The University of South Carolina Police Department is sending an alert to students on campus about an alleged attempted sexual assault. Crandall Sims reporting, “According to police the victim got into the cab here at this fountain in Five Points. Police say the victim told them the cab was possibly blue in color with leather seats, but nothing else.” “As soon as she gets into the car and she provides the address of her final destination he does not take her immediately there,” says Jennifer Timmons, Public Information Officer for the Columbia Police Department. “After driving around about 10-15 minutes the driver says to her I’m not going to drop you off there until you do a favor for me,” says Timmons. A favor the victim wasn’t willing to to do. “The victim tells us that the driver unzipped his pants, exposes himself to her and then tries to forcefully put her head in his pant area,” says Timmons. The victim refused. According to an incident report obtained by ABC Columbia News, the victim was scared and looked down until she was finally dropped off at her final destination. USC sent out a crime alert warning students. “The one from last night, the first thought was I hope that wasn’t any of my friends, because they all went out last night,” says one USC student “The cabs yeah, after getting the alert from last night and seeing that someone was trying to probably be safe and not drive under the influence and they ended up getting in trouble for it,” says another USC student. As for last night’s incident, police are continuing to investigate. “We are working with cab companies, but so far none of them have a driver who matches the description,” says Timmons. Crandall Sims reporting, “According to the incident report around 2:36, the student sent a text to a friend that said, “Please Help Me,” police say it is unclear at this time whether she told the cab driver to stop the cab. Police hope to interview her again in the coming days. In Five Points, Crandall Sims, ABC Columbia News.”
