Woman sexually assaulted on bus travelling from Niagara Falls to St. Catharines

Police are searching for a man who reportedly sexually assaulted a woman while she was riding a bus travelling from Niagara Falls to St. Catharines during Thursday morning’s rush hour.

Niagara Regional Police said in a news release Friday that the victim was assaulted by an unknown man around 7 a.m., after she boarded a bus near Morrison Street and Dorchester Road in Niagara Falls.

The woman exited the bus around 7:40 a.m. near Welland Avenue and Geneva Street in St. Catharines, where the suspect also got off and was last seen running northwest.

Police say the woman was not physically injured.

The suspect is described as a Black man between 20 and 30 years old. He is approximately six feet tall, with a slender build, short black hair and a dark complexion.

He was last seen wearing a black coat with a red liner, a grey hoodie with a white chest logo, a black balaclava, and grey pyjama bottoms over black jeans or shorts. He was carrying a PC Optimum-branded black cloth shopping bag, a white bag, and wearing white shoes.

Investigators are asking residents and business owners near Montrose Road and Dorchester Road in Niagara Falls, as well as Welland Avenue and Geneva Street in St. Catharines, to review cellphone, dashcam or security footage recorded between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on April 17.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 905-688-4111, option 3, extension 1009407, or to provide an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.