Man arrested for groping woman outside shopping center in west Olympia
A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation on Saturday, Sept. 30, after he allegedly groped a woman while she was putting her children into her car, according to Olympia police.
About 2:15 p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 2900 block of Harrison Avenue Northwest.
Police were told the woman, her children and the woman’s mother had emerged from the Target store and headed to their car in the parking lot, Lt. Paul Lower said. As the woman was putting her kids in the backseat, the man came up and grabbed her from behind. The woman screamed and jumped into the car.
She saw him run into another store in the same shopping center and she called 911, Lower said.
Police found him at the other store. As they talked to him, the suspect allegedly told police that he had recently been released from the Skagit County Jail and took a bus to Olympia, arriving about three hours before the incident on Saturday, Lower said.
This story was originally published October 3, 2023 at 10:30 AM.
