URBANA, Illinois – A man was arrested for aggravated battery Friday afternoon after he allegedly pulled down a female U. of I. student’s pants as a prank Sunday night.
Security camera images and a license plate reader hit proved to be major contributions to the investigation.
Police initially were called at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday by a U. of I. student who reported that she was walking in the 100 block of South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, when she was approached from behind by a man who grabbed her pants around the knee area and pulled on them. The man immediately ran away. The contact knocked the student to the ground, but she did not require medical intervention.
Campus security cameras captured the incident on video, including images of the man and the vehicle he was driving. The vehicle information was loaded into the local automated license plate reader system.
On Friday afternoon, a University Police officer received an alert from the system that the vehicle had driven past an automated license plate reader on Route 45 and was headed toward Urbana. The officer headed toward that area and spotted the vehicle pulling into a gas station in the 1800 block of North Cunningham Avenue, Urbana.
The officer identified the passenger of the vehicle as the man who was present on campus Sunday night. The identification was made easier in part because of some distinctive tattoos on his arm matched those seen in the security camera images from Sunday.
The passenger, Kasey M. Hollis, 29, of Danville, Illinois, was questioned by the officer and admitted that he was present on campus Sunday night. He said the prank on the U. of I. student was part of a dare or a bet.
Hollis was arrested for aggravated battery and taken to the Champaign County Jail. He was also issued a notice of trespass for all U. of I. property, which means he can be arrested if he returns to campus.
Please note: Those arrested are presumed innocent until proved guilty, and formal charges may change as cases are adjudicated.
