DA: Suspect charged in attempted rape of woman at Walnut Creek BART station
Signage for the Walnut Creek, California station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) light rail system, September 13, 2017. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - A Pittsburg man has been charged in the attempted rape and attack on a young woman at the Walnut Creek BART station, prosecutors said.
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office said Richard Lee McDowell, 35, faces felony charges of kidnapping, attempted rape, and assault in the Oct. 7 incident.
Authorities said a 20-year-old woman was on an SFO-bound train with the McDowell, whom she didn't know when the train stopped at the Walnut Creek Station.
SEE ALSO: BART passenger nearly raped, physically attacked during daytime commute to work
The woman got off the train and McDowell followed, authorities said.
Prosecutors said there was no one else on the platform when McDowell grabbed the victim and forced her into an elevator where the two struggled. Authorities said he tried to take her pants off, but the victim fought back and escaped the attack.
Authorities were able to identify McDowell as the alleged attacker with the help of images from security camera footage.
On Oct. 15 he was arrested by BART police at the North Concord Station.