A man allegedly committed three sexual assaults, was arrested, released and then committed three more in Washington, D.C. over two days – including a violent assault that was interrupted by bystanders.
Christopher Joseph Sharp, 38, was first arrested after three alleged groping-type offenses on Sunday morning.
Two of them occurred in the Palisades neighborhood, and the third happened on Massachusetts Avenue NW near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home at the Naval Observatory.
At his court appearance, Sharp was ordered released on a promise to return for trial. For an unknown reason, he was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital on Monday evening.
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Minutes after his release on Tuesday morning, right outside the hospital, two more women reported being groped by a man with long, dirty blonde hair, wearing a hospital shirt.
Then, at 9:55 a.m., a sixth victim reported the most violent of the attacks.
According to witnesses trying to help her, she was forcefully attacked from behind, lifted into the air above shoulder height–also by a man with dirty blonde hair, wearing a hospital shirt.
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He allegedly tried to strangle the woman with his legs and pinned her down so hard she had scrapes all over her body and a possible broken arm. She may have lost consciousness.
The witnesses who eventually got him to release her by hitting him described to police the horrifying sight of the man holding her aloft and walking forward several feet.
Sharp was arrested nearby. He is accused of assault with intent to commit first-degree sexual abuse, kidnapping and misdemeanor sexual abuse.
