BOULDER, Colo. – A man suspected of jumping into a NightRide vehicle and attacking a woman at CU Boulder has turned himself in, police said Friday afternoon.
The attack happened Thursday around 11 p.m., as the woman was dropping students off on Kittredge Loop Drive between Fiske Planetarium and Kittredge Central.
A bulletin posted by CU Boulder police said the man got into the car and refused to leave when she told him to get out. The bulletin stated he threatened her if she called for help and would not let her use her phone.
"He fondled the victim and tried to kiss her," the bulletin said.
The woman then drove the suspect to the Shell gas station at 29th Street and Baseline Road where he got out of the car and began walking down Baseline.
Late Friday morning, Boulder police said the suspect turned himself in at the lobby of the Boulder Police Department. The victim confirmed the suspect’s identity, according to police.
Ashten Johnson Talley, 29, a resident of Vail, was arrested on first-degree criminal trespass, physical harassment, computer crime for unlawfully accessing a victim’s smartphone and second-degree criminal tampering of a phone charges.
He was booked into the Boulder County Jail.
“Further investigation determined that Talley touched the victim. But, at this time, there is no evidence that the actions were sexual in nature and or met the legal definition of a sex crime,” police said in an update sent Friday afternoon.
According to witnesses, Talley was intoxicated at the time and also asked a student if he could get a ride shortly before 10 p.m.
Police have not linked Thursday night's incident to attacks over the last week.
On Tuesday, Boulder Police department issued a warning about two incidents on University Hill in which women were targeted by a group of men and threatened with a handgun.
On Wednesday, a man with a gun stole a car from a woman at the Twenty Ninth Street shopping center near 28th Street and Arapahoe Avenue.