CLEVELAND — Police held a news conference Wednesday morning to provide more details on the arrest of suspect in a rape that occurred in a downtown parking garage last week.
The crime happened last Thursday when a 51-year-old woman said she was sexually assaulted in the Gateway District parking garage at 630 Prospect Ave. after leaving work. The victim said the suspect forced her into her vehicle and tried to drive off before crashing it and fleeing the scene.
Police first confirmed the alleged incident Monday and announced the arrest of a 17-year-old suspect Tuesday.
WKYC does not name juvenile offenders unless they are tried as adults.
Chief Calvin Williams said his department didn't issue a public notice directly after the incident Thursday because detectives were already closing in on the suspect, who was identified after police reviewed surveillance footage from area businesses.
"We really had a good lead on this suspect early," he said. "We didn't want to scare this person have to look for this person for the next 30 days.
"Through our experience, if we have those type of leads, it's best to run those leads down first before we kind of alarm the public to look out for this person."