A bouncer at a popular Hennepin Avenue dining nightspot raped an intoxicated co-worker in a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp after offering to drive her home, according to charges. Prosecutors also say he also groped another woman he worked with a week earlier.
Malcolm K. Olatunde, 53, of Maplewood, was charged in Hennepin County District Court last week with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the alleged assault last September in a ramp on S. 8th Street.
Olatunde was arrested Tuesday, appeared in court Wednesday and remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail. His attorney, John Arechigo, said in response to the allegations, "These are accusations and only accusations at this point."
During the investigation, authorities learned that Olatunde sexually assaulted a Crave employee a week earlier while driving her home, the criminal complaint noted. He became "very touchy and forceful" with the woman, who had been "drinking heavily downtown," the charging document read.
According to the complaint:
Police and paramedics were called to the ramp and located a woman down next to a car. Her face and clothes were covered in dirt, and she appeared intoxicated.
She was taken for examination to a hospital, where she said she left her job at Crave about 8:30 the previous night and later went down Hennepin to the Union bar with friends.
She saw Olatunde, who worked on contract as a bouncer at both Crave and Union. To the best of her memory, the woman explained, she believes she left Union with him. She said he often escorted female employees to their cars or offered rides after bar closing time.
The woman said she thought of Olatunde as a work acquaintance and trusted him even though other women at work warned her that he is "rapey," the complaint said.
She said she could not recall how she got to the ramp or anything that happened there.
The sex assault examination revealed injuries consistent with being raped. She also had scrapes and bruises on her arms, legs and one hip. DNA collected from her during the exam was a match with a sample authorities retrieved from Olatunde.
In a statement through an attorney, Olatunde denied assaulting the woman. Olatunde said he agreed to give the woman a ride home from Union. But, he said, she had trouble getting in his vehicle and sat down on the ground.
Olatunde said he called other Crave workers to see whether someone could come and get her because he had to get home to his wife and two children.
According to charges, surveillance video shows Olatunde attempting to get the woman into his car at 2:11 a.m. before they disappear behind a neighboring car. About 15 minutes later, his headlights turn on and they re-emerge, and he again attempts to get her into the SUV before he eventually drove away at 3 a.m., leaving her on the ground. Several people passed by, and police and emergency medial personnel arrived at 3:30 a.m.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
