CLEVELAND — Police are looking for a suspect accused of raping a woman and attempting to steal her car inside a downtown Cleveland parking garage.
Police say the incident happened Thursday around 7 p.m. in a Gateway District parking garage at 630 Prospect Avenue, across from Quicken Loans Arena.
A 51-year-old woman reported that she was attacked and sexually assaulted by a man when she entered the parking garage. The woman said the suspect forced her into her vehicle and tried to drive off before crashing and fleeing the scene.
The suspect, who is described as being a man between the ages of 20-25, also took items from the victim. He had brown hair, brown eyes and was between 180-200 pounds, according to the victim.
Thousands learned the news almost four days before Cleveland Police issued their press release by way of an unconfirmed viral Facebook post.
“As I run this through my mind, I can’t fathom why this story would be withheld,” Sunny Nixon told Channel 3. Her Facebook post detailed the attack and went viral on Saturday. “I know this is a holiday weekend and I appreciate that. But the nature of an attack like this seems like something people should be aware of.”
Channel 3 and most other media outlets wait until police agencies confirm stories of kidnapping and rape. So, in this case, an unconfirmed – but largely accurate -- social media broke the news to thousands of people who travel the neighborhood where the attack occurred.
We reached out to Cleveland Police about why they waited so long to release suspect details and confirm the incident occurred.
“I personally come down here a lot. From the gym to the grocery store -- we do have a lot of visitors and they need to be aware that things like this do happen,” Nixon said.
Anyone with information on the suspect should call 216-623-5060.