Penn State freshman accused of indecent assault, strangling woman in residence hall
A Penn State student was arrested and accused Saturday of strangling and indecently assaulting a woman, who told university police she feared for her life and was saved by someone who knocked on her dorm door.
Preston J. Brindle, 18, of Chester County, pulled the woman to the ground by her hair and followed her back to her residence hall after he “became angry with her” in downtown State College, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Brindle, police wrote, took the woman’s key and followed her into the restroom so she could not call for help. He was also accused of taking her phone, looking through her contacts and using two racial slurs to describe her ex-boyfriend.
The woman told police that Brindle, a freshman in the Division of Undergraduate Studies, digitally penetrated her and said he was going to kill her. Witnesses intervened after she screamed and opened the door, police wrote.
The person who knocked on the door “saved her life,” she told police. A defense lawyer was not listed.
Brindle was charged with two felony counts each of strangulation and aggravated indecent assault, as well as one misdemeanor count each of unlawful restraint and simple assault.
He was arraigned Saturday by District Judge Don Hahn, who set bail at $115,000. Brindle did not post bail and is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 20.