In a news release Thursday<\/a>, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said the circumstances of the incidents are concerning, “particularly those involving victims who reported being approached by someone they did not know.”<\/p>\nThe incidents are not believed to be connected “based on the information available at this time,” according to the release. <\/p>\n
Some of the investigations have led to arrests and charges, while others remain ongoing with efforts to identify those responsible.<\/p>\n
Woman pushing stroller attacked<\/p>\n
The force did not specify how many incidents it is referring to, nor did it say where and when the assaults took place, with one exception.<\/p>\n
OPS said the recent series of incidents includes the sexual assault of a woman who was pushing a stroller on a pathway\u00a0in the area of Truro Street and Carpenter Way, just west of the Aviation Parkway, at around 5 p.m. Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Police are still seeking the perpetrator of that incident, describing him as a white male about 40 years old, with a medium build and a dark beard. He was wearing a black hoodie with\u00a0front pockets and brown shoulders and sleeves, faded blue jeans and brown tennis-style shoes. <\/p>\n
Police are also seeking any dashcam, doorbell, or security camera footage\u00a0from the area that might help with the investigation. <\/p>\n
In another recent investigation \u2014 though police did not cite this one in their Thursday release \u2014 OPS on Wednesday announced they had charged a 36-year-old Uber\u00a0and Lyft driver with one count of sexual assault. <\/p>\n
The date of that alleged offence is unclear but the investigation began July 25. <\/p>\n
‘Look out for one another’ <\/p>\n
“We are asking members of the public to remain attentive, look out for one another and report suspicious behaviour,\u201d OPS cautioned in its Thursday release. <\/p>\n
“We encourage residents to consider taking reasonable personal-safety precautions, particularly when travelling alone or through isolated areas. Some options could include choosing well-lit and populated locations, letting someone know your anticipated route or arrival time, and contacting police when a person or situation causes concern. <\/p>\n
“Police recognize that responsibility for sexual violence rests solely with the person who commits it. These safety suggestions are provided to allow residents to make informed decisions and is not intended to suggest or imply that victims are responsible for preventing an assault.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-836675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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