Woman reports being sexually assaulted by stranger outside Bluffton supermarket
Police had not yet identified a suspect after a woman reported being nonconcensually touched last week by a man outside Bluffton’s Food Lion location.
The woman told police she exited the store at 1008 Fording Island Road about 9:30 a.m. on August 25 and got in her car, which was parked about five rows from the building’s front entrance.
But an unidentified man had positioned himself between her and the car door, keeping it from closing. He then touched the woman’s lower calf and “slid his hand up” across her thigh, beginning to push up the bottom of her dress, according to an incident report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
After the woman pushed the suspect’s hands away, he told her he was looking for money. He then distanced himself from the vehicle and the woman drove away, the report says.
The woman called police from a tire shop across the street, providing a description of the man and adding that he was “commenting on her tattoos” as he touched her.
Surveillance cameras at the Food Lion did not capture the incident, according to the incident report.
Deputies planned to show the woman a photo lineup containing at least one person of interest, who was questioned by police at the nearby Enmarket convenience store.
As of Tuesday, investigators were awaiting results from a DNA swab of the woman’s leg, according to Staff Sgt. Robert Herlong of the BCSO.
