Trail Assault Suspect Nabbed After Search In Manchester Neighborhood

MANCHESTER, CT — Manchester police said they successfully located a suspect in a hiking trail sexual assault in the Charter Oak section of town Wednesday. He is now facing nine criminal charges and was being held overnight on a half-million-dollar bond.

A sizable police presence was in the area of Sycamore Lane early Wednesday afternoon. An alert was sent to the public at about 1:30 p.m. and, less than a hour later, police said a suspect was in custody.

Sycamore Lane is located off Charter Oak Street, adjacent to Charter Oak Park.

In a news release issued Wednesday night, Manchester police said they responded to a report of robbery and sexual assault that occurred on the hiking trail near Charter Oak Park. Police said in the news release that a 65-year-old woman was walking on the trail when she was thrown to the ground by a man, who then groped her, assaulted her, and briefly took her purse and cell phone before the woman fought him off.

With her phone back, the woman was able to take a photograph of the man before he fled, according to a news release.

Police arrived at the scene and set up a perimeter in the Charter Oak Park-Sycamore Lane area and a search began a search. The man, later identified as 30-year-old Daquan Clark-Blue, was located at a residence on Charter Oak Street, a short distance from the scene, according to a news release.

Clark-Blue was taken into custody without incident and investigators then located clothing matching the garments he was wearing in the photograph taken by the woman on the trail, according to a news release.

The woman was transported to Manchester Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for undisclosed injuries sustained during the attack, police said.

Clark-Blue is now facing fa series of serious charges that include:

• Third-degree assault
• Third-degree assault of an elderly person
• First-degree criminal attempt at aggravated sexual assault
• Third-degree sexual assault
• First-degree unlawful restraint
• Third-degree strangulation
• First-degree threatening in the 1st Degree
• Second-degree larceny
• First-degree robbery

Clark-Blue was being held Wednesday night a $500,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court Thursday.