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Palo Alto police are looking for a man who reportedly followed and groped a woman as she walking on a downtown street on Wednesday evening.

Police said in a news release that the woman, who is in her 40s, flagged down a passing police car on Bryant Street and Forest Avenue at about 9:32 p.m. on Oct. 4 to report that she had just been sexually battered in a nearby location, police said in a news release.

The woman said she was walking east on the 300 block of Homer Avenue when she was approached from behind by a man who groped her buttocks while whispering something to her, according to the police. She said she could not hear what the man said but believed he may have been speaking Hindi.

When the woman turned to confront the man, he ran west on Homer Avenue, police said. She tried chasing him but he ran off and was last seen in the 200 block of Forest Avenue, about two blocks from City Hall. The woman did not report any physical injuries, police said,

She described the man as an adult of unknown race or age, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 150 pounds. He was wearing dark jeans and a black short-sleeved T-shirt, police said.

Police said they do not believe the man in this case is the same one who was arrested on Oct. 1 for allegedly exposing himself to two different women.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.

Gennady Sheyner covers local and regional politics, housing, transportation and other topics for the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and their sister publications. He has won awards for his coverage...

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