A woman was raped in Bellevue this past Friday, September 19, after a man forcefully grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. The stranger rape took place at at 110th Avenue Northeast and 2nd Street at 11:21 p.m. The suspect was caught shortly after.

“The suspect is in custody and there is no continuing threat to the public,” said Bellevue Police Public Information Officer Greg Grannis.

At the time of the rape, a police officer responded to a phone call about a suspicious individual lurking around the area.

The officer was patrolling the neighborhood looking for the individual.

The officer came across a man pinning a woman to the ground.

The officer initially did not realize the woman had been raped until he approached the victim and she told him.

The suspect fled on foot and evaded detection for more than an hour.

Police brought in a K-9 track and helicopter support from Guardian 1.

The suspect was caught at 112th Avenue Northeast and 6th Street and arrested at 12:57 p.m. He was processed and booked in King County Jail.

At the time of the search, an underage drinker was spooked by the police activity and ran but was later contained. He was unrelated to the rape case.

“There are very few bona-fide stranger rape cases in Bellevue,” Ofc.Grannis explained. “The overwhelming majority of rape cases that we have are where the suspect is known to the victim or is raped by a family member. For a town of our size we have very few.

“Stranger rape is extremely unusual,” he added.