Youngstown police investigating sexual assaults

YOUNGSTOWN — Police are investigating two reported sexual assaults — one involving a 17-year-old girl getting off the school bus on the South Side.

Officers were sent to the area of Indianola Avenue and Cooper Street to meet with the girl and a concerned bus driver. The bus driver was flagged down by the shaking, crying and disoriented 17-year-old East High School teen at 4:30 p.m. Thursday somewhere near Indianola.

According to police, the girl was dropped off at her usual bus stop at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Franklin Street. She was approached by a man driving a white Honda Prelude with a cracked windshield shortly after being dropped off.

The girl told police the man showed her a knife, then began dragging her toward the white car. She told police the man told her he knew where she lived, who she is and that she had better get in the car.

The girl told police the man drove her to an abandoned brown house in the area of South and Dewey avenues. Reports say she was forced inside the house where the man stripped her of her clothes and raped her.

For the complete story, see Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com