Update: COCC student reports backpack theft attempt
(Update: Police details on attempted backpack theft)
A Central Oregon Community College student said a man tried to grab her backpack as she got into her car at a Bend campus parking lot late Wednesday morning, prompting an emergency alert to students and staff and a police investigation, police said Thursday.
A brief alert sent out by email and text Wednesday night had called the incident an attempted assault, but police Lt. Clint Burleigh said Thursday it was actually an attempted theft.
Bend police contacted the student shortly after 7 p.m. Burleigh said she told them that she had left a class and gone to her car in parking lot B12 around 11 a.m. when the man grabbed a single strap of her backpack in an attempt to take it.
The student said she pushed the man into another parked car, and he then ran away. The student lost no property and was uninjured.
Officers went to the area to look for more evidence, but have yet to identify a suspect, the lieutenant said.
An updated description of the suspect was a white male about 45 years in age and 5-foot-8, with medium build. He was described as having long hair, past his shoulders, and a beard longer than his hair. He last was seen wearing a short-sleeved green shirt and acid-washed jeans.
The COCC alert said, “We urge students to be cautious and aware of their surroundings.” Anyone with information was asked to contact Bend police at 541-693-6911.
