Sex Assault in Park Follows Victim's Twitter Broadcast of Her Location: LAPD Investigates

Al Herrmann

A view from Elysian Park.

A young woman who moments earlier tweeted her location was sexually assaulted in Elysian Park, police told the Weekly last night.

It happened on Halloween afternoon to a woman in her 20s.

LAPD Sgt. Chris Gomez told us "it was a penetration with a body part other than his genitals."

The victim, whose name was withheld, recovered:

She was treated at the scene and released, Gomez said.

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Cops are looking into whether her location tweet could have alerted the attacker to the victim's whereabouts.

Perhaps even creepier: The victim reportedly said she had seen the man before. It's not clear if that's because he was following her Twitter account though.

All is under investigation.

In any case, he's a brave attacker: Elysian Park is home to the LAPD Police Academy.

The Eastsider LA broke the news of the assault yesterday, reporting that the woman said she had seen the man around the park previously.

Needless to say, cops are looking for him. For now they're mum about a suspect description.

"We caution people to be aware of their surroundings," Gomez said.

[Update]: In statement released this afternoon the LAPD released some more details about the attack:

On October 31, 2011, at about 1p.m., a female was sexually assaulted in Elysian Park. The victim was hiking by herself on a trail near Academy Drive and Stadium Way. As she was near the end of the trail, approximately 25 yards from her vehicle, the suspect came out of the bushes, near the trail and grabbed her from behind. The suspect placed one hand over her mouth andsexually assaulted her with the other hand. The victim struggled with the suspect and was able to free herself after which the suspect fled on foot into the park.

The suspect is described as a male, Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes. He stands about 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, weighs approximately 210 pounds and is in his early to mid 30s. He was wearing a white T-shirt and light blue basketball shorts, with white tennis shoes.

If you think you know the guy call police at 213-847-5454.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com/@LAWeeklyNews]