PORT ANGELES — A woman is recovering after an unidentified man sexually assaulted her near downtown Port Angeles early Saturday morning, police said Sunday.
A man wielding a knife accosted the woman near Fifth Street and Laurel Street, then forced her to accompany him to several areas south of downtown before leading her to an abandoned building west of downtown, police said.
The woman reported the man sexually assaulted her at the abandoned building, said Interim Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith, though the details of the attack were unavailable Sunday.
Smith said the woman was able to escape the man and seek treatment at Olympic Medical Center and report the assault.
“She’s safe right now and recovering,” he said.
Police plan to release a composite sketch of the man and are continuing to pursue leads on the case.
The suspect was described as a six-foot-tall white male in his 30s, bald or with a shaved head, with a strong, slender build, green eyes and a goatee.
He was last known to be wearing a dark brown jacket with a hood and was seen with a black bag.
Smith is encouraging anyone who thinks they might have any information about the attack to contact city police. He said someone might have seen something and not realized what was happening.
He said what makes this a rare crime for Port Angeles is that it was a stranger who approached the woman, and he encouraged people to have strong situational awareness.
“We’ve put information out as quickly as we could in the hope that we could engage the community and put ourselves in a better position to solve the case and help the victim,” he said.
Smith said detectives are following up on leads, but are seeking more information on the case.
“It’s not normal in Port Angeles to have a male accost a woman late at night,” he said. “It would be helpful for us to hear anything — description, name or anything that would help us.”
The public is asked to give any information on the case to Port Angeles Police at 360-452-4545.
