Man accused of sexually assaulting stranger outside Minneapolis apartment

Bystanders helped police identify and arrest a Minneapolis man accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside in broad daylight Saturday, according to new criminal charges.

Marquis J. McLoyd Jr., 27, of Minneapolis, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of 3rd-degree sexual assault in connection with the incident, which happened around 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the South Lyndale neighborhood.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to an apartment building on the 3500 block of Bryant Avenue South on a report of a sexual assault and found a woman crying on the sidewalk with her clothes disheveled.

The woman told police she'd been sitting on the bricks in front of the apartment building waiting for her boyfriend to come outside when a stranger said something to her and then pushed her backwards, causing her to hit her head against the ground.

According to charges, McLoyd Jr. then began sexually assaulting the woman and fled only when bystanders came in response to the woman's cries for help.

The complaint states responding officers found McLoyd Jr. approximately two blocks away. He was identified by witnesses and arrested at the scene.

If convicted, McLoyd Jr. faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two criminal sexual conduct charges he faces.