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Police arrest man accused of sexual assault in Bloomington parking garage

Surveillance video captured the suspect inside the garage. Police shared screenshots of the video in an attempt to identify him.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Bloomington Police Department announced the arrest of a man for allegedly assaulting a woman in a Bloomington parking garage Sept. 1. 

The assault happened just after 10 p.m. in a parking garage in the 200 block of North Morton Street.

Police said an 18-year-old woman went into the garage from a nearby alleyway in the 200 block of West 6th Street. She walked up the steps to the third floor and began looking for her car. 

She was walking up the ramp toward the fourth floor when she noticed a man who appeared to be following her. 

She told police that the man grabbed her from behind and tackled her into a parking space between two parked vehicles and began assaulting her.

Credit: Bloomington Police Department
Police are trying to identify this man, who's accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman in a Bloomington parking garage on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.

The woman yelled for help and heard footsteps approaching. That's when the suspect got up and ran away. 

Police said the suspect went back down the steps the woman had used to get to the third floor then ran from the garage heading north across 7th Street. 

Credit: Bloomington Police Department
Police are trying to identify this man, who's accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman in a Bloomington parking garage on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.

Surveillance video captured the suspect inside the garage. Police shared screenshots of the video in an attempt to identify him. 

Police said they received several tips about the suspect, leading them to 27-year-old Andre J. Hardy of Joliet, Illinois. Police were able to locate him in Illinois and take him into custody. 

Hardy is charged with two counts of rape, criminal confinement and sexual battery.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Det. Jon Muscato at 812-349-3326. 

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