A University of Pittsburgh student reported being grabbed on the buttocks by an unknown man near the intersection of Forbes Avenue and South Bouquet Street around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and officers arrested a suspect matching the description in front of Schenley Plaza roughly 15 minutes later.
According to WPXI, the University of Pittsburgh Police Department arrested in connection with the alleged sexual assaults after receiving the initial report. While officers were responding, another person came forward and told them the same man had touched her buttocks as well, meaning the suspect is accused of groping two separate people. The suspect has not been publicly identified, and the station reports he is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.
A Busy Campus Corridor
The reported incident and the arrest both took place at one of Central Oakland's most heavily trafficked pedestrian nodes. The Forbes Avenue and South Bouquet Street intersection sits adjacent to Pitt Law School, Posvar Hall, and Litchfield Towers, directly across from Schenley Plaza, where police caught up with the suspect, according to the same report and background detailed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It's a stretch of campus that mixes classroom buildings, dorms, and foot traffic throughout the day.
The arrest comes just days after Pitt introduced a new tool aimed at exactly this kind of reporting. The university officially launched PittSAFE on August 21, a mobile safety app that replaced Rave Guardian as the central hub for emergency alerts, direct dispatch calls, and safety reporting across campus, per WPXI's earlier coverage. Pitt Police highlighted the app in their public statement following the arrest.
Part of a Recent Pattern Along Forbes Avenue
This is not the first safety concern reported along the Forbes Avenue corridor in recent days. Just four days earlier, on August 25, a man was arrested for allegedly following a student into an off-campus apartment building at 3506 Forbes Avenue, grabbing him inappropriately and choking him in a hallway. Back in March, Pitt Police also investigated a late-afternoon robbery on the nearby 3900 block of Forbes Avenue after a man claimed to have a gun and stole necklaces from a victim, a case Hoodline covered at the time in its report on a Forbes Ave robbery near campus.
Under Pennsylvania law, non-consensual indecent contact — including touching another person's intimate parts or buttocks without consent — is generally graded as a second-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to two years in prison and fines up to $5,000, according to the state's consolidated statutes. University of Pittsburgh Police Department officers are required to hold a bachelor's degree and complete mandated training in cultural awareness, implicit bias, and anti-bias practices, per the university's own guidance for students.
Reporting Options and Support Resources
Federal Clery Act statistics published by the university show Pitt reported 9 fondling offenses and 19 rapes on campus property in 2022, following 17 fondling offenses recorded in 2021, according to the University of Pittsburgh Office of Public Safety & Emergency Management. Students who experience sexual misconduct can also pursue non-criminal administrative remedies through the university's Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, or submit confidential reports online through the Pitt Concern Connection portal.
Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, one of the support organizations promoted by campus police, has held weekly drop-in advocacy and confidential counseling sessions inside the Cathedral of Learning since January 2025. Those seeking support can reach PAAR at 1-866-363-7272, resolve Crisis Services at 1-888-796-8226, the university's counseling center at 412-648-7930, or the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. Pitt Police can be reached directly at 412-624-2121.
Under Pennsylvania's Crime Victims Act, crime victims statewide are guaranteed statutory rights including prompt notification of court hearings, protection from intimidation, and access to victim compensation assistance, per the Pennsylvania Office of Victims' Services. It remains unclear whether the suspect is affiliated with the university, and formal charging documents have not yet been detailed in Allegheny County court records.
