Posted Friday at 10:37 p.m.

University Police posted fliers Friday evening throughout campus to alert students regarding an assault that allegedly happened Thursday afternoon. A female was allegedly physically assaulted in the 900 block of 17th Street at approximately 2:45 p.m. Thursday, the flier said.

The suspect tried to force the woman into a maroon or burgundy “old-style” van with a knife, the flier said. The suspect is an African-American male, approximately 40 years old and 6 feet 2 inches tall, the flier said. He had short hair with “possible gray near his sideburns” and some facial hair, the flier said. The assaulted woman reported that the interior of the van was gray and the second row seat was removed, the flier said.

The female also said one of the wheels on the passenger side of the vehicle “seemed different”, according to the flier.

The Charleston Police Department is investigating and seeking information regarding the crime.

University Police Department officer Robert Ogden said he received noticed of the assault around 4 p.m. Friday and was called in by University Police Chief Adam Due around 6 p.m. and told to post fliers alerting campus to the crime.

The fliers, labeled “Timely Warning,” contain information about the assault from a press release sent out by the Charleston Police Department. Information about the crime posted on the University Police’s website is also from the Charleston Police Department.

Ogden said he and another officer began posting and handing out the fliers around 6 p.m. and finished after 8 p.m.

“We posted them [the fliers] on all of the residence halls, as many bulletin boards as we could,” Ogden said.

He said officers also posted the information inside academic buildings.

No EIU Emergency Notification e-mail has been sent at this time regarding the crime however some campus personnel are taking upon themselves to emphasize heightened safety.

Temetria Hargett, assistant resident director for McKinney Hall, said she is instructing her residence assistants and staff to put an extra emphasis on safety this weekend because she saw the fliers.

Kim Hancock, a desk assistant at Andrews Hall said she had not been notified with any information regarding the fliers. But the junior business management major said she wishes she would have been.

The residence hall assistants in Andrews, Taylor and Carman halls also said they have received no alert e-mails or additional information about the fliers.

Ogden did not know if Due was told to post the information by his superiors or if it was Due’s own idea.

Charleston Police Department officers Ken Pollum and Brett Compton said they were not aware of the fliers and said their chief Mark Jenkins said that “it appeared to be the press release word for word” and could answer no further questions because posting the fliers was the University’s policy, not theirs.

The Charleston Police Department is the only department mentioned on the fliers.

Ogden said he is unaware of any policies regarding fliers, but in the eight months he has been on the University Police Department, he is not aware of any other of warning fliers having been posted.

Call Central Dispatch for Coles County at 217-345-0060 with any information regarding the crime.