Crime & Safety

Waukesha Man Saves Woman from Possible Sexual Assault

Gabriel Granados-Saucedo was recently recognized for his actions when he found a man hurting a woman following a night of St. Patrick's Day drinking.

Gabriel Granados-Saucedo was walking home from a late night at the bars after St. Patrick’s Day when he saw them near his house — a woman laying on her stomach with a man on top of her, holding onto her arms.

"Help me," the woman called out.

Granados-Saucedo pulled the man off the woman. The man angrily told him "this isn’t your house."

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"If you call the cops, I will kill your entire family," the man yelled at Grandos-Saucedo while pulling up his pants' zipper.

Granados-Saucedo, of Waukesha, was sent a letter of commendation by Police Chief Russell Jack last week for his work in capturing a sexual assault suspect last March. Granados-Saucedo helped identify Raul Martinez Lopez as the man he pulled off of a woman being attacked in the 400 block of Madison Street around 3 a.m. March 18.

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When Martinez Lopez' uncle was unwilling to provide police with information about Martinez Lopez' whereabouts, Grandos-Saucedo told the uncle that what his nephew did to a defenseless woman was wrong and it appeared Martinez Lopez was sexually assaulting the woman. Eventually police learned Martinez Lopez was raising money and planned to flee to Mexico.

"Your assistance in this case was the only link to justice for the victim," Jack wrote in the letter of commendation. "Thank you for standing up to this violent criminal both on scene and at court time. Your assistance to the victim was greatly appreciated by (the detective) and the entire Waukesha Police Department."

The woman testified in a previous court hearing that she was walking to her boyfriend's house after leaving a nearby saloon. She remembered waking up in the hospital the next day.

"All I know is I was walking alone and all I remember is somebody coming behind me pulling my hair and hitting me on my right eye," the woman said during a court hearing. "And I was knocked out instantly. I don’t remember the rest."

The criminal complaint shows that Waukesha Fire Department paramedics secured the woman with a neck brace at the scene and transported her the few blocks to Waukesha Memorial Hospital where she was treated. When officers responded, her pants were pulled down, she was crying hysterically and blood was coming from her swollen face.

When police contacted Martinez Lopez, who told police he was out drinking on St. Patrick’s Day and was with a woman he didn't know and the woman followed him. The woman fell down, and he tried to help her up, Martinez Lopez said, but he denied sexually assaulting the woman. Martinez Lopez admitted he was agitated and said things he shouldn’t have to a man in the area.

However, Martinez Lopez eventually pleaded no contest to intimidating a witness, false imprisonment and battery. An attempted sexual assault charge was dismissed but read-in as part of his plea deal. He will be sentenced on Jan. 18. 

Editor’s Note: The above information was taken from Police Chief Russell Jack’s letter to Gabriel Granados-Saucedo and from Waukesha County Circuit Court filings. Patch attempted to contact Granados Saucedo, but a listed phone number was disconnected. The Waukesha Police Department has provided letters of commendation as a way to recognize the good things people do in the community.


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