A rape and an attempted abduction that targeted women in Center City Philadelphia don't appear to be connected despite happening just a block and a half apart around the same time.
On Tuesday, police revealed details about an attempted assault that happened around 6 a.m. Sunday on the 200 block of South 13th Street. A man in his late teens to early 20s got out of his car and attacked a 24-year-old woman walking her dog, punching her in the face and demanding she get in his car, police said.
The woman screamed and was able to run away, investigators said. The attacker, who stands around 5-foot, 9-inches tall, then hopped into his red Mitsubishi Galant sedan with a possible Uber sticker on the passenger side windshield and drove off, investigators said.
Surveillance video captured the incident.
Another incident occurred around the same time Sunday when a man sexually assaulted and robbed a 37-year-old woman in a parking lot on 1200 Latimer Street. He then fled in a car — originally believed to also be red, but that is no longer the case — with an unknown Pennsylvania tag southbound on 12th Street and westbound on Spruce Street.
The woman was taken to Jefferson University Hospital for treatment for minor injuries, police said.
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The two incidents don't appear connected, Police Special Victims Capt. Mark Burgmann said Tuesday morning, calling the proximity a coincidence. He said the area is normally very safe.
No arrests have been made.
If you have any information on the incidents, please contact Philadelphia police.
