A man committed a lewd act in front of a woman while she was shopping at a Safeway store in #PaloAlto on Wednesday.

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Police search for man who allegedly committed lewd act in Safeway

Woman in self-checkout line tells police man standing behind her left 'biological fluid' on her clothes

by Palo Alto Weekly staff / Palo Alto Weekly

Uploaded: Sat, Jan 29, 2022, 4:43 pm 2
Time to read: about 2 minutes

Palo Alto police are searching for a man who allegedly committed a lewd act while standing behind a woman in the self-checkout line at the Safeway in the Midtown neighborhood on Wednesday. ... A woman in her 20s told police that she had been ringing up her groceries in the self-checkout line at the store, located at 2811 Middlefield Road, when she noticed the man standing very close behind her, police said in a press release.

Another man approached them and told the woman that the suspect had been following her and taking pictures of her. That man, whom police have not yet been able to identify or interview, began to yell at the suspect. The woman told police that she was scared and left the store promptly. Once outside, she noticed what she believed to be biological fluid on the back of her shirt and pants. She reported the incident to police the following morning.

Police worked in close collaboration with Safeway management and were able to review surveillance video of the incident, which shows the suspect masturbating while standing immediately behind the victim. The suspect appeared to be fully clothed at the time and was discreetly masturbating so that his actions may not have been immediately obvious to passersby. The suspect left the store shortly after the incident and the verbal confrontation with the unidentified male.

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Police are hoping to identify and interview the man who confronted the suspect and are asking that person to contact the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. ... Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.

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