March 30, 1995
An attempted rape ended with University Police Department officers cornering two suspects on the west side of the Administration Building and arresting them late Thursday night.
Two SF State library guards helped apprehend the suspects, ages 14 and 16, by responding to the woman's screams for help.
According to the UPD police report, two male juveniles attacked a woman in a carport on the 1600 block of Holloway Avenue around 11 p.m. Thursday night. The woman warded off the attackers by fighting and yelling. One guard came to her aid and the other contacted the UPD, which later caught the suspects.
San Francisco Police Lt. Henry Hunter, who handled the case later that night, said the robbers took the woman's backpack and jacket when they tried to evade the police. Hunter said the woman is not a SF State student but lives in the area.
The woman's screams alerted Ralph Coppola, a guard at the J. Paul Leonard Library. Coppola said he was making a final round at Lot 4 when he looked up to see two youths dragging the woman down Holloway into a carport across the street. The woman fought and screamed against her assailants as they pulled her into the carport and continued struggling when they got inside the parking area, Coppola said.
Around the same time, Coppola's partner, Henry Viets, was between the Administration Building and the library when he heard the woman scream.
"I've worked here ten years and every scream I hear is some girl being tickled by her boyfriend. But this time I decided to take a look," Viets said.
After he heard a second scream, Viets said he drove down Holloway as one of the assailants fled the carport. By that time, Viets said, the suspects had ripped the woman's clothes down to her undergarments.
The suspects ran away and Coppola went to the woman's side, giving her his jacket.
"It was awfully cold that night," Coppola said.
UPD officers caught the suspects outside of the Administration Building after a short chase. SFPD officers then brought the woman to the Administration Building to identify the suspects. After the woman verified their identities, the UPD arrested them. Hunter said SFPD took the suspects to the juvenile jail Youth Guidance Center.
According to the report, UPD officers searched the area following the arrest and found a four-inch long buck knife and the woman's belongings.
The same two suspects may be implicated in a sexual battery case that occurred the day before the attempted rape, UPD Lt. Stephen McLain said. The UPD police report said a woman reported she was walking with a friend on Denslowe Street when two youths walked past her and one of them grabbed her breast and walked off.
McLain said UPD and SFPD are investigating whether the two incidents are related.
Hunter said although he was shocked by the brutality of this case, it is common for youths to mug people in the area of Ocean Drive spanning to the SF State campus. He said suspects often stalk potential victims from bus stops.
Hunter said the suspects may have been involved in other robberies in the area as well.