A Clintonville mother says she was getting her son ready for school when a knock at her apartment door turned into a terrifying struggle, with a stranger forcing his way inside, groping her, and appearing to try to sexually assault her. She fought him off by slapping him in the head and immediately called 911 — then waited more than 90 minutes for Columbus police to arrive.
The woman told WSYX that the man entered her apartment suddenly and said he wanted to love on her, groping her arm and breast before she believed she was about to be raped. She said she managed to remove him from the unit and called 911 at 6:30 a.m., expecting help to arrive quickly given what had just happened to her.
Instead, according to the station's report, the call sat despite being classified as a priority two run — a designation the article says requires immediate dispatch and officer response without delay. A dispatcher reportedly told her the precinct was undergoing a shift change and that the call would go out once officers marked in for their shift. The woman called 911 again after waiting 40 minutes with no officers in sight.
A Delay Measured in Minutes, and in Fear
Records cited by the same outlet show a dispatcher didn't alert a sergeant about the call until 7:24 a.m., with officers finally dispatched at 7:32 a.m. and arriving at 7:53 a.m. — more than 90 minutes after the woman's first call. She told the station she could be dead if help hadn't come when it did, and she warned that her neighbors were still not safe because, in her words, the man was a predator looking for prey.
The man accused in the case, identified as 23-year-old Isaac Bamba, had also called 911 himself starting at 6:17 a.m., before the woman's call, and reportedly sounded incoherent and extremely agitated on that call, per the same account. A man in the same apartment complex separately reported that his girlfriend had been targeted while getting into her car, according to the report.
Charges, a Psychotic Break Claim, and Administrative Leave
Police arrested Bamba after officers finally responded, and he was charged with aggravated burglary and gross sexual imposition, both felony charges under Ohio law. Aggravated burglary under the state's criminal code covers circumstances in which an offender inflicts, attempts, or threatens physical harm on another person, or possesses a deadly weapon during the offense, according to Ohio Revised Code Section 2911.11.
Bamba's attorney said doctors believed he was undergoing a psychotic break at the time, the report notes. Bamba was described as a surgical technician who lived in the building, and he reportedly volunteered for a three-day hospital stay for behavioral health afterward. OhioHealth said Bamba is on administrative leave, per the same account.
An Investigation Without Answers, Two Weeks Later
The Columbus Public Safety Office initiated an investigation into why officers were not dispatched sooner, and a preliminary review reportedly found that officers were in fact available to be sent at the time. More than two weeks after the incident, Columbus police still had not provided additional answers about the delay, the station reported.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said 911 dispatch and police response are separate processes, according to the same report. The woman said she wanted the situation exposed because she believed something was wrong and needed to be fixed, a sentiment that remains unresolved as the public safety review continues.
