Dallas

DART Police Make Changes After Recent Reported Sexual Assaults in Deep Ellum

Dallas Area Rapid Transit says its police force is making a temporary change in light of recent reported sexual assaults in Dallas' Deep Ellum neighborhood.

The separate attacks were reported early Sunday morning. The first attack occurred near North Malcolm X Boulevard and Indiana Street, in Deep Ellum. The second attack happened at South Malcolm X Boulevard and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, near Fair Park.

"Well, since the incidents there's been a little more of a push by DART police and Dallas police to pay a little more attention to that area of Dallas," said DART spokesman Mark Ball.

DART has started staging officers at the DART station near Baylor University Medical Center and dispatching them out from there. The goal is to be more visible.

"It's certainly a serious issue and should be addressed," said Nann Philips, who lives across the tracks from the DART station that is near one of the reported assaults. "It wasn't necessarily alarm that I felt. It was more like, well, there's another one."

Philips said she's noticed an increase in crime in her neighborhood over the past year.

"I think what has happened in this neighborhood is we've become kind of a target-rich environment," Philips said. "It would be nice to maybe see more of a police presence."

Police arrested 41-year old Roy Gutierrez for an alleged sexual assault that occurred at Crowdus and Indiana streets. In the affidavit released by police, the victim said she was held around her neck until she almost lost consciousness and thought she was going to die.

There has been no arrest in the other reported assault.

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