Texas police say a man who stopped to help a woman who was stuck with a flat tire sexually assaulted and raped her.
The Travis County Jail says that Reynaldo Tapia-Arcibar, who is 31 years old, is being charged with something that happened on May 16. Some of these charges are sexual abuse and kidnapping with a weapon.
An affidavit from Fox 7 Austin says that around 3:30 a.m. that same day, a woman called Austin dispatchers “screaming for help” and said she had just been sexually attacked. She told the police that her attacker had tricked her into getting into his “boxy white SUV” while she had been waiting for help for an hour in the northeastern part of the city.
According to the statement, Tapia-Arcibar told the woman that he would fix her flat tire with her and “shut the door quickly” when she was done.
The document says that instead, he reportedly sexually assaulted her in an apartment complex after driving north for about ten minutes. The woman told the cops that she had asked to get out of the car and tried to open the doors before they got to the house.
The statement says that at first, she couldn’t get away, so she texted a friend to ask for help. She called 911 so she could get out of the man’s car.
The president of the Austin Cops Association, Michael Bullock, told Fox 7 that the woman told them where her phone was, which let the cops get there ten minutes later.
Seven hours later, a guy who looked a lot like the woman was seen leaving an apartment at the Wildwood Apartments in the 7000 block of Cameron Road. Tapia-Arcibar was then arrested.
Bullock said that what happened was “tragic” and “not something anyone should have to go through.”
He told people who needed help on the side of the road to call their local cops and ask them to wait with them until help arrived. Bullock also said that people calling AAA or other similar roadside assistance services should always ask for the respondent’s name and the model of the car.
Tapia-Arcibar’s next court date is June 12, and she is being held on a $50,000 bond right now. Law & Crime reports that if he can make a bond, the judge has told him to wear a GPS ankle monitor and has told him he can’t talk to the woman.
Under Texas law, aggravated abduction is a first-degree crime that can get you life in jail and fines of up to $10,000.