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Police Make Arrest In Attempted Rape Of Columbia University Student

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police have arrested a homeless man in connection with the attempted rape of a Columbia University graduate student.

Allen Taylor, 27, is charged with first-degree attempted rape, second-degree burglary and sexual abuse for allegedly attacking the student as she entered her dorm in Morningside Heights this week.

Officers were called to dormitory housing on the Columbia campus around 9:40 p.m. Wednesday, police said. The 27-year-old woman said she was returning from a jog when she was followed into the building, where the suspect groped and fondled her, police sources told CBS2.

There was a struggle and the victim fell to the ground, source said. The suspect tried to take off the woman's bra, but her screams scared him away, police said.

The victim was not injured and refused medical attention at the scene, police said.

Surveillance video shows Taylor walking near 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on Wednesday night, CBS2 reported.

Police found Taylor at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, where he was arrested, CBS2's Diane Macedo reported.

The attack happened just hours after hundreds of people marched through Columbia University's campus carrying mattresses and demanding that the school take more action against sexual violence.

Among other demands, they want Columbia to reopen the case of Emma Sulkowicz, who said the school wrongfully acquitted a fellow student who raped her. She's vowed to carry her dorm room mattress with her every day until he's expelled in a campaign she calls "Carry That Weight."

The march was one of 130 that happened around the country.

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