SPRING, Texas – A Spring grandmother says she was assaulted in broad daylight outside of her gym, and police say the suspect, who has since been arrested, is a known registered sex offender.
One week later, she’s opening up about her encounter and has a strong message to other women and her assailant.
“Almost every time I walk in somewhere, anywhere, I am always on my phone, and that day I just happened to not be on my phone, which was the grace of God. But that’s how relaxed I am in this area, I don’t even pay attention to my surroundings,” she said.
Back on Sept. 16, Sommer Day went to the gym as she does most days after she drops off her granddaughter at school.
“I was heading towards the gym, and he was heading out of the gym. Or at least I thought he was,” Day said.
He was on her side of the parking lot. She says she switched over out of courtesy. That’s when Day says he booked it and headed her way, running diagonally through the parking lot.
“He started forcefully started taking down my pants,” explained Day. “I pushed him off, and I said get the F*$% off of me, whatever you’re doing. I was able to catch one side of my pants and he was pulling down the other side, and I felt his hand and everything on my hip.”
But Day acted fast and was able to defend herself.
“With full force, I took my hands on his chest and pushed him to the ground. It wasn’t that far from the door to Planet Fitness,” explained Day.
Sommer ran up to the door at the gym and quickly pulled out her phone. She was able to get a video of her assailant and watched him run away.
She called 911 and deputies were dispatched to Planet Fitness in the 21300 block of Kuykendahl Road in reference to the incident.
The man that police say assaulted Sommer is 33-year-old, Baloch Yousef.
“All of that happened in seconds, so I’m still shocked. It was unbelievable. [I thought] Is this really happening to me? It’s broad daylight. It’s 8:30 in the morning.”
Day is still processing what happened to her and is hoping police find him because in her words, “He needs help”.
“He didn’t conquer, he didn’t conquer what he set out to do,” noted Day. “I guess it may hurt me in a different way if he was able to fully do what he wanted to do but I’m more hurt for him. I want him to get help [and] I need him somewhere off the streets.”
She has a strong message to all women, hoping her experience is as eye-opening to them as it was to her.
“I need to make people aware. I feel like maybe that happened for a reason, and he didn’t go as far as he could have but now I can say, ‘Hey, look, this is real, and they’re not scared. It’s broad daylight they don’t care. They don’t care anymore. Be way more aware of your surroundings, and take off all distractions because predators and criminals don’t care about victims.’”
Deputies immediately recognized the suspect as Baloch Yousef, a sex offender who resides in the area.
Yousef was arrested on Friday morning and charged with indecent assault. A judge set his bond at $100.