Western State College student assaulted in parking lot

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Missouri Western State College is on the alert for a mostly bald, middle-aged man who drove up to a student in broad daylight, grabbed her arm and licked the back of her hand.

The assault happened late last week in a parking lot across from the campus library. College officials responded by posting fliers on the doors of all college buildings, sending e-mails to students, faculty and staff, and proving a link to the suspect's description on the Internet.

The fliers were necessary under the national Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act, which requires timely warning of a crime that could be considered a potential threat to others.

The school's public safety director said it's the first time in five years -- and only the third time he recalls -- the university put out such an alert.

The 21-year-old victim told police she was approached in the parking lot by a white man driving a dark green Nissan Thursday afternoon. He was mostly bald, and in his late 30s to early 40s, she said.

The woman said the man grabbed her arm through his car window and pulled her toward him. The man then licked her hand, released it and drove away.

"It seemed fairly premeditated, like he wouldn't just stop on the spur of the moment and go through the series of events that he did," said Kristy Hill, the college's public relations director.