Target Groping Victim Said Workers Discouraged Her From Calling 911

A local woman groped at a Target said Friday she had been dissuaded by store employees from reporting the incident to police.

She was so bothered by the ordeal that she later called police from her car.

“When I called dispatch … they were appalled that they weren’t called to the scene,” she told NBC 7.

Now the woman’s case rests in the hands of prosecutors at San Diego City’s Attorney Office, who have received investigative tips from police about the assailant’s identity.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified out of fear for her safety, spoke to NBC 7 on Friday about the incident.

She said she was shopping at the Target store in Clairemont on Halloween night when the man approached her, asking for a date.

She politely declined, but he persisted.

“I said, ‘Excuse me. Enough.' And he kept coming at me and he grabbed me and groped me,” she said.

He then rushed away, she said. And what happened next was also upsetting: Store employees discouraged her from calling 911.

“When I was in the store, you know, I wasn’t in my right mind. I was hysterical,” she said. “But I did not know what constitutes a sexual assault. I knew it was wrong what happened to me and it was scary and wrong and awful and I felt violated.”

After local TV news stations ran the story, which include surveillance footage of the suspect, a number of people called police with tips of his identity.

As she waits for the investigation process to unfold, the woman says she has important message to other women:

“If anybody touches you in any way, it is not OK,” she said. “And you immediately need to call 911 from your cellphone … The appropriate action is to call authorities immediately because sadly someone isn’t going to do it for you.”

Attempts to reach Target on Friday were unsuccessful.

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