Lincoln Police have arrested a man after a New York woman reported she was sexually assaulted inside an elevator at a downtown parking garage on Wednesday evening. Public Information Manager Erika Thomas says officers were sent to the Cornhusker Square parking garage near 12th and ‘L’ Street around 7:00.
“Officers interviewed witnesses on the scene who told them they had heard the 43-year-old woman screaming inside an elevator on the second floor and pried it open.” Thomas says once the door opened they saw the victim lying on the ground and the suspect ran out of the building. Officers found 45-year-old Joshua Love about a block away and he was arrested without incident.
“During the investigation, officers determined Love was inside the elevator when the victim entered,” Thomas says. “Once both were inside the moving elevator, Love threatened her, choked her and grabbed her private parts underneath her clothing.”
Love was taken to the Lancaster County jail and booked for attempted 1st degree assault, false imprisonment, assault by strangulation or suffocation and possession of a controlled substance. Thomas says officers recovered a back pack belonging to Love that contained duct tape, rope, gloves and cocaine.
