When will the sexual violence against women stop? UGH!!

Good for the victim for fighting the perp off and getting a description to the police. I hope that anyone who knows someone like that can call the police with that information.

Is this possibly a homeless-related crime?

A 'spare-change' request + assault is peculiar to say the least.

I recall there was a series of sex crimes around the California Ave area a couple of years ago where the suspect or suspects were also described as young skinny white males (according to reports in this newspaper). Does anyone know if there were ever any arrests or convictions for those crimes?

Liberal progressive policies are turning Palo Alto from a utopian bubble into your typical run-of-the-mill dilapidated democratic managed city.

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Walking around on your own, male or female, at 4am is not a good idea, and if need to be out at the hour, be aware and don't talk to strangers, especially sketchy looking people asking for money. Commonsense should prevail. And before you go off on me, I am not suggesting she deserved to have this happen.

Well soon some will be advocating that the woman assaulted should be been packing a concealed firearm. Even after the Safeway vigilante shooting where a gun toting buffoon escalated a property crime ooh into an all around threat to life and limb. Doubling down on the gun insanity rife in our society is no solution, but will only escalate the death rate. My niece purchased a gun for self defense. Then she split up with her boyfriend, who broke into her house, flooded it with water and stole her gun. The day after she got a restraining order. The day after he shot her dead in her garage making her two young boys orphans. This is the reality of widespread gun ownership, not some Charles Bronson macho fantasy.

This happened in proximity to my office. I walked early to work that morning like many, walking past the same location as the woman who was attacked. I have worked in my office for a decade without having been assaulted, and similarly for another decade prior to other jobs in Downtown. It is a sorry day to see people's comments blame the woman for her rape. At least the Palo Alto cops took it seriously and didn't write it off to her lack of common sense. Thank you Palo Alto PD.

CCTV throughout downtown and parking lots will reduce these assaults and robberies, because (1) it increases the probability that the perps will be caught and (2) the ones that are caught will be locked up and unable to repeat their crimes.

This is actually the least expensive method to fight both violent and property crime. England has them everywhere. What are we waiting for? The endorsement of the ACLU?

Why is all of the burden when it comes to sexual assault and rape being placed on victims, who are nearly all women and girls? The only advice from authorities here was, "...recommend people stay aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement." How about they also balance their approach with something like "Authorities also recommend that citizens, especially men and boys, reinforce with each other why male aggression and sexual violence against women and girls are inappropriate and illegal"? It's time for men and boys to step up and solve this problem which is still all too common and belongs nearly entirely to them.

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