18-year-old charged with sexual assault after allegedly raping an unresponsive female
18-year-old man charged with sexual assault after allegedly raping an unresponsive female on a downtown Austin park bench in front of U.S. Courthouse.
Police responded to a “hot shot” call in the early morning hours of May 19th. Around 2 a.m. that morning officers arrived on the scene near 4th and Guadalupe.
A call came in that a pedicab driver was chasing a man. Police later identified the man being chased as Said Yarow. The pedicab driver, Luis Palos, told police that he heard a female scream near the U.S. Courthouse located off of West 5th street.
According to the arrest affidavit Luis said he drove up to a bench near the courthouse and observed Yarow having sex with the female victim. The arrest affidavit goes on to say, “Luis offered to give the(sic) Yarow and (victim) a ride and helped the (victim) into the pedicab. Luis stated Yarow jumped out of the pedicab at Guadalupe and 4th Street. Luis chased Yarow to where he fell in a creek near 4th Street and Rio Grande. This is where Luis lost sight of Yarow.”
Police were able to locate a black wallet in the creek where Yarow went missing. The wallet helped police identify 18-year-old Said Yarow.
The victim was taken to Brackenridge hospital. Police went back to Brackenridge later that morning to speak with the victim. APD Officer Bolin stated in his report that the victim was “…in distress as she was crying and trying to catch her breath” and “extremely fearful and confused about what had happened.”
Officer Bolin came back around 2pm to question the victim. According to Yarrow’s arrest affidavit the victim told police that, “she consumed ten to twelve cough medicine pills and smoked a small amount of marijuana to get high.”
The victim also had a friend come over and they watched movies and drank vodka together from 8 pm to 11:30 pm, after which the victim went to 6th street by herself. The victim told police that she had two additional drinks while at the bar Vulcan Gas Company.
Police obtained camera footage from the U.S. Courthouse security cameras. Those cameras showed two men carrying a female from 4th street and placer her on the wooden bench around 2:30 am.
According to the arrest affidavit, “The female was obviously unconscious and could not walk on her own. There was one white male and one black male who placed the female on the bench. After placing the female on the bench, the white male walked toward 4th street and was never seen again. The black male sat on the bench to the right of the female. The female was upright on the bench with her head laying back. The black male began kissing the female on the mouth.”
Luis arrived on the scene around 10 minutes after the victim was taken to the bench. It is at this time when he observed Yarrow having sex with the victim.
Yarrow insisted that “this is my girlfriend.” However, Luis was suspicious and he could not call 911 because his cell phone had low battery power.
In Luis’ formal statement to Police he says that he, “chose to get both Yarrow and the victim around other people so he could find an officer.”
Police were able to capture Yarow later that night and Luis was able to positively identify him out of a six person photo line-up.
Yarow is being held on a $40,000 bond and is being charged with Sexual Assault, a 2nd Degree Felony.