Woman Groped By Man On Bicycle In Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE (CBS) - It's a crime of opportunity that has startled runners and walkers along a popular path in Cambridge. Police say a man riding a dark colored BMX bicycle groped a woman as she walked in Fresh Pond reservation about 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night.

"That's terrifying, absolutely terrifying. You come to Fresh Pond feeling safe," said one woman.

"I was running here right around that time, it could have been me," said a jogger.

Cambridge police say it happened on a path across from 679 Concord Avenue. The suspect in his twenties rode passed the victim in the opposite direction.

"She took notice of the individual and felt uncomfortable as he passed her by," said Deputy Superintendent Steve DeMarco. After the male passed her, the woman could hear that he had turned around and was now approaching her from behind, this time wearing a ski mask. "The individual pulled up next to her and indecently touched her," said DeMarco.

Police say the victim ran up the path and onto Concord Avenue where she noticed the male suspect, who had followed her, had fallen off the bike. "She ran so I assume she thought there was going to be something else a-foot," said DeMarco.

Police say the male got back on his bicycle and fled in the opposite direction. He's described as a heavyset white male, possibly sporting a goatee.

Last month Cambridge police circulated a sketch of a man they believe groped women from a bicycle in three other incidents, but the description in this case appears to be different.

MORE LOCAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON