Evanston police said a female Northwestern graduate student was robbed and injured in an attempted sexual assault Tuesday night in a residential building in west Evanston.

At about 9:30 p.m., units were dispatched to a building in the 1900 block of Ridge Avenue for an attempted sexual assault, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said. The 24-year-old student was riding in an elevator when a man attempted to reach under her clothing and fondle her.

The student screamed, at which point the man began to punch the woman and threw her to the floor, Dugan said. The man then fled on foot with the student’s wallet and cellphone.

Dugan said the student had scrapes on her knees, but declined medical treatment.

In a University-wide email, Northwestern chief of police Bruce Lewis said the student described the man as a 25 to 30-year-old black male who is roughly 6 feet 2 inches tall. The man was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and a black backpack. No additional identifying information was made available.

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