News

Actions

Woman abducted, assaulted in Aultman Hospital parking lot

Posted
and last updated

A woman was abducted, driven off-site, and sexually assaulted Monday morning while walking to the Aultman Hospital. 

According to hospital officials, the woman was walking to the hospital from the parking lot near 6th Street and Bedford Avenue at approximately 5:25 a.m. when a man approached her with a knife and forced her into the back of a car. 

The head of the detective bureau, Captain Jack Angelo, said police were working Monday afternoon to determine the route taken and where the stops were made. 

The woman drove back to Aultman Hospital for treatment and called the police at around 7 a.m. 

Aultman Hospital released a statement about the abduction. 

We are shocked that this crime happened on our campus. We know how traumatic this experience was and we have been working throughout the day with the woman who was attacked to provide care and support.  We are very grateful she was released by her attacker and able to return to the hospital for help.

At Aultman, safety is our top priority. We are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our employees, patients and visitors, and we are very sorry this happened.  We will continue investigating the situation and we are cooperating with Canton Police in whatever way we can to help find the person responsible for this horrible incident.

To make sure we are doing everything we can to protect everyone on our campus, we will be stepping up patrols around our facilities, and we will be reviewing both employee and visitor parking procedures.  The Canton Police Department also plans to increase patrols around the main hospital campus and Aultman Security Services will to continue to maintain a strong exterior presence around the main hospital campus.

The suspect is described as a light-skinned black male who is 5-foot 7-inches tall and weights 180 pounds. He was in his late 20s, wearing a grey hoodie and sunglasses.