Police announce arrest of sexual assault suspect who posed as a ride-share driver

SAN MATEO, Calif. (KTVU) - San Mateo Police have arrested a man who allegedly posed as a ride-share driver and sexually assaulted a woman in August.

Police arrested Brandon Sherman, a 40-year-old San Jose resident. They say he was driving a 2010 gray Toyota Matrix when he picked up the victim. 

The woman told officers that she was picked up by a man who claimed he was a ride-share driver near Grant and Concar, just north of Highway 92 on August 14. A friend of the victim had ordered the victim an Uber, and that the victim apparently got into a car that was not the one she was expecting.

KTVU learned that the victim texted her friend, saying the driver was "trying to rape her" and that she needed help.

The man in the car took her to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her, according to police. 

The woman was able to escape and with the assistance of a passerby, who called police near the 1400 block of Fashion Island Boulevard.

The suspect fled the area in a gray four-door sedan with Uber and Lyft stickers on the back. She described him as a tall white man, in his late 30s, with a slender build.