Last Saturday, an afternoon encounter near a group of high school students on Powell Street ended with a trip to the hospital and a jail booking, after an Emeryville woman was arrested on suspicion of groping a 15-year-old girl and biting a responding officer, according to police.
What police allege
Emeryville police say the woman walked up to a cluster of students on the 1600 block of Powell Street, grabbed a 15-year-old girl from behind and groped her, then followed it up with a lewd remark about the teen's body. When officers moved in to detain her, they allege she fought back, biting one officer on the head and trying to bite another officer’s hand. At the hospital, police say she punched a CT machine and cracked its screen, as reported by East Bay Times.
Hospital visit and booking
Authorities said the woman was taken to a hospital in Berkeley for evaluation. Alta Bates Summit Medical Center operates hospital campuses in Berkeley and Oakland that serve the East Bay, according to Sutter Health. After she received medical treatment, officials say she was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, a county facility run by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, per Alameda County.
Charges and next steps
Court records identify the suspect as Jennifer Jackson. She faces a felony groping count tied to the alleged assault on the 15-year-old, along with misdemeanor charges of battery, resisting police, sexual battery and a vandalism count for the damaged medical equipment, according to East Bay Times. The jail log lists her occupation as “student,” and she remained in custody at Santa Rita Jail while the case moved forward in Alameda County.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office will review the case and decide whether to file formal charges. If prosecutors move ahead, the allegations will be handled in Alameda County Superior Court. Jackson, like any defendant, is presumed innocent unless and until she is proven guilty in court.
