Miami Man Arrested In Connection With Attempted Sexual Assault

Diontae Blackman was arrested just before 9 p.m. on Thursday after surveillance video from the apartment building where the attempted assault took place captured images of him entering and leaving the building.

Blackman was charged with attempted sexual battery, burglary with assault or armed battery, attempted aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

@miamipd is requesting the assistance of anyone who can identify or may know the whereabouts of the subject pictured below. Contact the Special Victims unit at 305-603-6300 or @CrimeStopper305 at 305-471-TIPS (8477). #Crimestoppers pic.twitter.com/BKVN3anSwT
— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) May 19, 2021

Miami Police had previously released video footage of Blackman following a woman onto the elevator of her building and pretending to speak with someone on the phone. The woman had just returned from jogging just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday night.

The video then shows him following the woman off the elevator. Police said that he forced his way into her apartment and produced a metal pipe before demanding oral sex from the woman police said. Police said that during the attack, Blackman struck the woman with the pipe several times.
When the woman asked him to stop, police said Blackman slapped her multiple times and then forced her into the bedroom. Once there, the man ordered the woman to take off her shirt and then attempted to force the woman onto the bed. The woman managed to escape and locked herself in a bedroom before yelling for help from a balcony, police said.

The woman suffered minor injuries in the attack, a department spokeswoman said on Thursday.

“The woman was very clever, very astute,” the spokeswoman told Patch on Thursday. “She did exactly what she was supposed to do – she called for help and tried to break away from him.”