Police & Fire

Sexual Assault Reported on Unity Street in North End; Suspect Took Victim’s Photo

Unity Street (Google Street View)

Boston Police are reporting that a woman in her early 20’s was sexually assaulted around 1:11 am yesterday on Unity Street in Boston’s North End.

The victim said the man pushed his way into her foyer as she was entering her building.

The suspect sexually assaulted her and then used his cell phone to take a photo before fleeing toward Tileston Street, according to the victim.

Suspect Description:  White male in his 20’s, blue-eyes, short blond spiked hair, medium build, clean shaven and possible freckles on his cheeks.

The description of a blond hair, blue eyed attacker is different from that described in the series of attacks from a few years ago although those were also on women walking or entering their apartments late at night.

The full BPD Community Alert is shown below:

At about 1:11am, on February 14, 2014, officers from District A-1 responded to a report of a sexual assault, in the area of Unity Street, North End.

Upon arrival, detectives spoke with a female victim in her twenties, who reported while entering her front foyer, a suspect pushed his way in behind her and indecently assaulted the victim.  The victim further reported the suspect then took a photo from his cell phone and fled the area towards Tileston Street. EMS treated the victim on scene for non-life threatening injuries.

The suspect is described as a white male, in his 20’s, medium build, short blond spiked hair, clean shaven with possible freckles on his cheeks, blue eyes, and wearing a dark colored Pea Coat, dark hat, jeans and Timberland type boots.

The Boston Police Department is actively investigating facts and circumstances surrounding this incident. Anyone with information is asked to call Sexual Assault Unit (citywide) detectives at 617-343-4400.

19 Replies to “Sexual Assault Reported on Unity Street in North End; Suspect Took Victim’s Photo

  1. Truly sorry for that girl and what she experienced. One ponders the question: what was she doing out alone at that time of morning?
    Unity Street ia a kind of no-man’s land at that time.

    1. Maybe she was just getting home from work. Maybe she was just getting home from a night out with friends. What difference does it make what she was doing? a woman should be able to walk home and not get sexually assaulted by some pervert.

  2. Marisa, I don’t think it makes any difference what this young woman was doing out at 1 AM.The point is any woman should be able to walk home & enter her building without being attacked.The lesson here is for woman to be aware of who may be following or watching them the NE is not as safe as it once was.

    1. Michaeld. and JES Times have changed. Remember when a few women were attacked about 8 years ago in that area, and women were given whistles? There was a time when I would cut across the Nazzaro playground at 11:30 at night. I would not do that now. There have been enough reports throughout the years about women being attacked late at night — and people do wonder how they dared to be out alone at that hour, when the know the risk they are taking. Yes, a woman SHOULD be able to walk home at 1 a.m., but the reality is, it is not safe any longer. Even on college campuses, they walk in numbers now due to attacks at night. Sure, a woman can keep an eye out for who is following her, and before you know it, he’s running up and attacking her.

    2. Agreed. It’s just is not smart to be out alone at that time of night/morning. Sad but true. Heck, as a man, I don’t like walking alone in the North End after 10PM. It makes me shake my head when I see women, walking alone and on there cell phones totally oblivious as to what’s going on around them. I want to stop and try and talk some sense into them. Just be smart. Use commons sense

  3. Note that the men think it’s fine to be out late at night. Ask most women what they think about the subject. Women are vulnerable, out alone at a late hour. Men just don’t get it.

  4. Men are just as vulnerable to crime as woman the difference of course is thst with woman most of the crimes are sexual in nature. Many men are mugged & assaulted near college campuses or the Boston Common area or downtown Boston for smart phones & I pads.These random attacks are extremely difficult to prevent especialiy here in the NE with the foot traffick particularly on weekends so the victim is usually the last line of defense to prevent an attack.The NE is still one of the safest places in the city & people cannot become prisoners in their own neighborhood but woman have to be extra viggilant because this is the world we live in today & no area is exempt.

  5. Michaeld. You said, the difference of course is that women’s crimes are more SEXUAL in nature.
    Lord, that is a huge difference !
    Have you read the ramifications of an attack like that? Have you heard about women who are
    scarred for life after an attack? The psyche of an attacked woman takes years to recover, and most of them are in therapy after. How can you compare crimes against men with sexual assaults on women. I don’t understand your reasoning at all.

  6. Tom, I was born & raised here & i”m not comparing crimes. If a woman is attacked especially in the NE I feel like a member of my family has been attacked thats the way we were raised here & thats why we protected the neighborhood so it was safe for woman to walk the streets.I know very well the ramifications of these types of crimes & Im sorry if you misunderstood my comments I was just trying to point out the spike in street crime [all street crime] in the city of Boston & to not blame the victim for “being out at 1 AM” hopefully she was not injured physically as well as the emotional scars these attacks cause & is able to help provide a sketch of the attacker that can be posted in stores & businesses throughout the neighborhood.

  7. I’m surprised (at least I didn’t hear of anyone in the news) no residents in the building where the victim lives heard her scream or heard any noise from her trying to get away from the attacker.

  8. I used to come home from work in the early morning hours. I would carry a bag with a long blade screw driver in the front pocket and my hand was in the pocket gripping the handle firmly. Those hours of the morning are mostly drunks hanging around everywhere. On a couple of occasions some of them approached, but moved away quickly when they saw me pull something from the bag. At those hours, I don’t trust anyone and make sure that I give everyone a wide birth. I walk quickly and if I hear someone walking faster from behind, I move between parked cars and face them and of course that hand is about to come from the bag. Having come from a place where police do more than hand out whistles, I have the training to know how to blunt and injure an attacker.

    Also, my nieces carry pepper spray on their key chains. You can buy this on Amazon for under $10 dollars. This will show up in two days. So if you find some guy coughing his brains out and stabbed several times, we have our guy.

  9. .What is wrong with this picture? 3 more woman were attacked in E. Boson yesterday but in the state of Ma a person needs a firearm identification card/license to carry pepper spray to protect themselves yet a person can walk into a pharmacy & purchase syringes without a prescription.

    1. Michaeld. Friends in college had pepper spray. No need for firearm identification card/license to carry it. I don’t believe that the number of women who carry pepper spray really need, and want a firearm identification. If that were the case, many females just wouldn’t bother, or, they would carry hair spray,which works just as well.

  10. The building has a front door that does not lock (NEVER has). Its the only building on Unity with this situation. The assailant likely saw people coming in and out of that door without a key and recognized the opportunity. The girl enters the foyer…door closes…assailant opens door and now they are both in a sheltered location where noone can see the two of them. This is basic security 101. Put a lock on the exterior door, or simply elliminate the outside door entirely to elliminate the blind spot.

  11. To Another Opinion: It is dangerous to put your hand in your pocket for something in order to defend yourself. If someone is confronting you, and they see your hand diving into a pocket, they’ll think it’s a gun, and he may panic and pull out a gun or weapon and do more harm. That is the last recourse — going into a pocket for something when he’s facing you. Pepper spray (and hair spray works just as well) to defer an attacker and is a guarantee that you’ll get away in time. You can then omit stabbing and practically killing the assailant.

Comments are closed.