Sex Assault Thwarted By Witnesses In Downtown Evanston: Police

EVANSTON, IL — A Hyde Park man is accused of attempting to sexually assault a Northwestern University student Tuesday in downtown Evanston, police said.

Devonte Huggins, 20, of the 6900 block of South Harper Avenue in Chicago, faces one count of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated battery in the public way, according to Evanston police.

Officers were dispatched to the area of Clark Street and Orrington Avenue around 6:30 a.m., where they found a 27-year-old Northwestern student with minor physical injuries and several witnesses, police said.

Police were told a man approached the student from behind, threw her to the ground and attempted to remove her pants. Witnesses stepped in and stopped her attacker, who fled on foot, according to police.

Detectives discovered video surveillance cameras had captured images of a suspect in the incident, who was wearing a distinctive red, white and black coat with "Gucci" emblazoned across the front, police said.

Evanston police said they issued an alert to other local law enforcement agencies with an image from the surveillance footage.

About six hours after the incident, an officer from one of the agencies that received that alert, the Glencoe Department of Public Safety, noticed a man on foot near Dundee Road and Fairfax Drive who matched the description of the suspect in the attack, according to Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew.

Glencoe public safety officials contacted Evanston police, and detectives determined they had found the man depicted in the video, identified as Huggins, according to police.

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Following further interviews with witnesses and "incriminating statements" Huggins made to investigators, police said, prosecutors approved two felony charges.

Glew credited neighboring agencies and the public for helping detectives quickly close the case.

At a detention hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge Anjana Hansen ordered Huggins jailed unless he provides the $20,000 cash portion of his bond. He is due back in court May 26 in Skokie.