University Police is looking for a man they said assaulted a UF employee at the Reitz Union early Tuesday morning.
At about 6:40 a.m., a 49-year-old administrative employee at the Reitz parked her car in the nearby garage, UPD spokesman Officer Wayne Clark said. She then took an elevator to the first floor.
As the elevator opened and the woman walked into an open area, a tall man wearing a white construction hat approached her, Clark said.
He grabbed the woman by the shoulders and held her against a wall outside the elevator, Clark said.
The man spoke to her in Spanish and then let her go, Clark said. He escaped through a nearby stairwell.
Clark said the man did not reveal a weapon or indicate that he might have one. Employees from a nearby restaurant called police, according to an email sent to students.
The woman later described her attacker as a tall, unshaven Hispanic man with dark gray hair and a medium build, according to the email.
The email also stated he wore blue jeans, along with a hard hat and an orange shirt that read “Skanska,” the name of a construction company that operates on campus.
Clark said detectives with UPD’s Criminal Investigations Division will contact the company in search of the suspect.
“If we do find him, we will take him to jail and charge him with battery,” he said.
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