Ball State student, employee report assault by bicyclist

Two women on their way to work and to class Wednesday morning said they never would have expected being slapped on the behind as they walked down Neely Avenue at about 8 a.m.

According to University Police Department case reports, the women are victims of battery.

Nicole Szoko, 18, said she wasn't just slapped as she walked on her way to class in Irving Gymnasium.

"He didn't slap me. He grabbed it," Szoko said.

Christine Edgeman, 33, administrative coordinator in the Department of Communication Studies, said she was listening to her iPod and didn't hear the man approaching on his bicycle.

Szoko said no one should condone sexual assault.

"What happened, it's undescribable," she said.

Szoko said the assailant grabbbed her while riding his bicycle, and then she yelled after him.

"‘What's your problem?'" she said.

He yelled back, flipped her off and turned around, she said. Szoko said he then came back down the street and yelled "I love you!"

Szoko said she was disgusted. She described the man as scraggly with a young-looking face and long, light brown hair.

Edgeman said she was startled by a quick slap as she walked to work.

"I yelled, he laughed at me and he rode away," she said. "I stood in shock, and then called the cops."

What was interesting, Edgeman said, was that she recognized the man on his bike when she was in the parking lot between the construction area near Irving Gymnasium and the Amelia T. Wood Health Center. But she said she didn't think much of it at the time.

"It wasn't threatening. It was broad daylight," she said. "That's the most unsettling."

Bob Fey, associate director of Public Safety, said there were three victims, but only two filed case reports.

University Police Department hopes the unique description of the bicycle will help them identify the offender. The women described it as a 1950s, vintage-style bike with large blue tires and big, round chrome-painted handlebars.

So far, there are no witnesses from the case. Fey urges students to beware of anyone riding up behind them, especially in the early morning and late at night. He said he can't remember the last time a battery case with this kind of description has happened on campus.

Comments from students have flooded Facebook, Twitter and bsudailynews.com.

A Facebook group was created Wednesday refering to the incident. It had 3,643 fans by midnight Wednesday.

Freshman Aubrey Brutus said she thinks calling the police was the right thing to do.

"Matters like these are inappropriate," she said. "I think it's right that they called the police because it's their own body. Some guys think they have the right to just to that, but it's totally disrespectful."

Others, such as junior Ryan Schmidt, think sending out a mass e-mail alert wasn't necessary.

"That's not sexual assault and I don't think it's necessary to send out an alert," he said. "It's like the boy that cries wolf."

Sharon Hernandez conrtibuted to this story.


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