Student Groped By Bike Rider

Another Harvard student was groped on Mount Auburn Street Thursday, marking the eighth reported indecent assault near Harvard Square in the last four months.

The victim, an undergraduate, told police she was “approached from behind by a male on a bicycle who groped her while he rode past her” at the intersection of Mount Auburn and Story Streets near the post office at around 4:30 p.m., according to an advisory sent out Friday by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

The suspect fled on his bicycle immediately after the alleged groping, Cambridge Police Department (CPD) spokesperson Frank D. Pasquarello said.

This is the fourth reported indecent assault in the area over the past month and a half where the suspect was riding a bicycle.

CPD, which classified the incident as indecent assault and battery, is looking into whether the alleged assault is connected to other assaults in the area.

“I have no idea,” Pasquarello said. “We haven’t made an arrest. It’s under investigation.”

The victim described the suspect as a white male in his mid-30s, with a dark complexion, black hair and a heavyset build, wearing a gray ski jacket, light blue jeans and a knit cap. He was riding a 1950s-style bicycle with wide handlebars, according to the advisory.

Over the past two weeks, two graduate students have told police they were also victims of gropings perpetrated by men on bicycles.

A graduate student told police she had been groped by a man on a bicycle at the intersection of Holyoke and Mount Auburn Streets at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 6.

After learning of that incident, a second graduate student reported last Tuesday night that she was assaulted in Harvard Yard at 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 6.

The second victim from Feb. 6 told police she was walking in Tercentenary Theater when a male riding a bicycle stopped beside her, groped her and rode away toward Canaday Hall, according to HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano.

CPD is investigating this latest incident and the one on Holyoke Street, while HUPD is investigating the Yard assault.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.

ASSAULTS ON WHEELS

A timeline of four reported sexual assaults by an attacker on a bicycle

Jan. 10, 9 p.m.: Undergrad allegedly groped in Harvard Yard

Feb. 6, 8:30 p.m.: Graduate student allegedly groped on Holyoke Street

Feb. 6, 8:45 p.m.: Graduate student allegedly groped in Harvard Yard

Feb. 12, 4:30 p.m.: Undergrad allegedly groped on Mount Auburn Street