A Penn State student was charged Saturday with simple assault, false imprisonment and harassment after an incident involving a woman he knew, the State College Police Department said.
Andrew Zoka, 21, of Indiana, Pa., was arrested after carrying a woman he knew from her apartment into his nearby apartment on the 200 block of South Fraser Street against her will. He subsequently threw her against a wall, the State College Police Department said in police papers.
The woman told police that Zoka became angry after the two exchanged text messages. Zoka then entered the woman’s apartment, made a derogatory hand gesture and then left, police said. Zoka then returned to the woman’s apartment stating the two needed to talk, but left once more after taking and throwing the woman’s cell phone, police said.
Zoka returned to the woman’s apartment a third time, when he grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder and ran her over to his apartment, police said. A witness observed Zoka carrying the woman, as she was hitting his back and screaming for him to put her down, police said.
Zoka refused to release the woman, and once in his apartment, Zoka locked the door and threw her against a wall, where she sustained bruising and swelling to her arm after falling onto a bicycle, police said.
The woman was able to escape and run out of Zoka’s apartment after Zoka ran to his room and slammed the door closed, police said.
In a statement police received from Zoka, he stated that he did grab and carry the woman to his apartment against her will, police noted.
Zoka is scheduled to appear at his preliminary hearing Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte.
