Man gropes woman twice in Cape Coral

A woman was sexually assaulted while walking to her doctor’s office on Wednesday in Cape Coral.

The suspect grabbed her on her chest and groin right after she got off a bus around Cape Coral Parkway and Tarpon Court.

The police report said she was not injured but it’s hard to imagine doing something as simple as getting off the bus, walking down the street to your doctor’s office, and getting sexually assaulted twice during that short walk.

A woman’s sense of safety was ripped away from her in the blink of an eye.

“I can’t believe someone would just pull over and like assault someone like that,” Cape Coral resident Elizabeth Batters said.

“I’m so sorry, that anything like this has to happen to anyone,” Pam Hull, who owns a self-defense studio, said.

WINK News met with both of those women at Four Freedoms Park, just a few feet away from where Cape Coral police say a man in an older white SUV saw a woman walking down the sidewalk. The man then pulled up beside the sidewalk and made some obscene suggestions.

“To know that that happened is really off-putting,” Elizabeth said.

Detectives said the man didn’t stop with his explicit remarks. He then got out of the car and put his hands on the victim’s chest and groin area.

She was able to get away from him once, but then he did it again when he parked in the parking lot of her doctor’s office. She got away again and got help from nearby staff.

“It’s really scary how men can just do that. And you know, most women don’t know how to defend themselves. I carry a little kitty shank in my purse. That’s in case of situations like that,” Elizabeth said.

But these are the situations that Hull regularly trains for.

“I teach self-defense, boxing, and kickboxing but mainly self-defense,” Hull said.

And she wants women across Southwest Florida to hear her best advice for these situations.

“Yelling is one of the most important parts, waving your arms doing whatever you have to do to draw attention to something that is happening to you to get help,” Hull said.

Because it’s easy to freeze up and not know what to do. So, if the woman who suffered this attack on her way to the doctor’s office is reading this story, Hull has a message specifically for you.

“I’m happy to give her some training on me. It would be my pleasure,” Hull said.

WINK News reached out to the Cape Coral Police Department to see if they have any updates on a lead or suspect as to who the suspect is. But, CCPD has not reached back out to WINK News.

Nevertheless, CCPD describes the suspect as a man in his mid-40s, about 5′ 6″ and 150 pounds. He had green eyes and medium-length blonde hair.