Police search for suspect after grandma groped while pushing stroller downtown Calgary

Calgary police are investigating after a woman reported being groped while walking downtown Wednesday night, pushing her grandchild in a stroller.

Investigators said it happened just before midnight near 11 Avenue and 8 Street S.W.

Deanna Bruce identified herself as the victim in the incident to Global News Thursday, and said she started yelling and chased the suspect down the street.

“He waited until I bent over the stroller to check the baby, that’s when he came up behind me,” Bruce said, adding the baby was safe. “When I started yelling, he took off. I followed him with 911 on the phone for four blocks…I couldn’t catch him pushing a stroller and holding the phone.”

“It was my daughter’s baby…here I am, the old grandmother.”

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Bruce said she wanted to describe the incident and provide a suspect description since it might help to remind people to stay aware of their surroundings.

“Take your phone – apparently you need to look behind instead of just side to side,” she said, adding she thought he must have been hiding since she’d looked around just before the assault. “You should be able to walk down the road, be under bright lights and not have someone come up behind you.”

Bruce said police asked her to wait at a nearby Safeway, and added she was impressed with how quickly they responded and how attentive officers were to her report.

She describes the suspect as having a distinctive haircut: “straight, light hair to his shoulders cut all the way around.” She said he had a slim build, wore a navy fleece-like jacket, very faded light blue jeans that were loose and baggy and running shoes. She said he was about 5’9” or 5’10” and estimated he may have been in his 30s or 40s.

“I was not a woman out there alone –I had a baby,” Bruce said. “So I thought I better put that description out because I wouldn’t want that to happen to someone else.”

Police confirmed Thursday they were looking for a suspect based on the above description.

With files from Shauna Smith Duncan