A 21-year-old woman says a male offender sexually assaulted her inside a residence in the 5600-block of South University Avenue early Sunday morning, according to Chicago police. The woman reported that the attack happened around 2 a.m. in the Hyde Park neighborhood, just blocks from the University of Chicago campus, and that she then drove herself to the hospital for treatment.
According to ABC7 Chicago, the woman self-transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment following the alleged assault. Area One detectives are now investigating the case, though the Chicago Police Department did not immediately provide additional information beyond the basic details of the incident.
Jurisdiction Questions in a Mixed Patrol Zone
South University Avenue sits within an area where policing responsibilities are split between two agencies. The University of Chicago Police Department has primary responsibility for patrolling the university campus and university property itself, per the school's own crime data page. But the Chicago Police Department is the primary policing agency in the university's extended patrol area, which the university says covers Kenwood, Hyde Park, Oakland, and nearby stretches — with UCPD acting in a supportive role there rather than taking the lead.
That extended patrol area is also the subject of quarterly crime statistics the university compiles on its own, covering both the campus and the surrounding neighborhoods it monitors.
Not the First Reported Attack Near Campus
Sunday's report echoes an earlier case near the same stretch of campus. In a previous incident reported by ABC7 Chicago, a 21-year-old University of Chicago student said she was grabbed from behind and restrained while walking in the 5600-block of South Drexel Avenue just after midnight. A university security alert at the time said the attacker pushed her to the ground and put his hand up her skirt before she escaped by biting his arm; he then fled north on Drexel Avenue. That woman was not injured and refused medical treatment, police said, and the suspect was not taken into custody, with Area Central detectives handling that investigation. The University of Chicago Police Department said afterward that it had increased its presence in the area and was working closely with Chicago police.
University Has Also Warned of Drink Spiking
Separately, the university has flagged a pattern of drugging reports among its own students. The school said it had received seven reports since September of undergraduate students having drugs put in their drinks without consent, according to CBS News. The university said those incidents happened at different off-campus locations with no clear pattern connecting them. In one case tied to that warning, an undergraduate student reported being sexually assaulted in a residence hall room after a party and suspected their drink had also been drugged.
No details have been released about a suspect, a suspect description, or whether anyone has been arrested in Sunday's case. It also remains unclear whether the woman is a University of Chicago student or whether the residence where the alleged assault occurred falls within UCPD's primary patrol jurisdiction. As Area One detectives continue their investigation, Chicago police have not said when more information might be released.
