A drunk Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, the officer in charge of the U.S. Air Force's effort to combat sexual assault in the military was arrested over the weekend for allegedly grabbing a woman by her breasts and behind in a parking lot near the Pentagon, officials said on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Krusinkski was charged with sexual battery for the incident in the Crystal City area of suburban Arlington, officials said.
An Arlington County Police spokesman said the woman fended off Krusinkski once he attempted to grab her a second time. She called the police who arrived a short time later, and was detained, news reports said.
Krusinkski initially was held on a $5,000 unsecured bond, and has been released from the Arlington County Detention Facility.
News of the arrest came just as the Pentagon prepared to release its annual report on the problem of sexual assault in the military.
A totally of 3,192 cases were reported in the military in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2011, a 1 percent increase in reporting from the previous year.
The Air Force, specifically, has faced a large number of sexual assault scandals in the past year.
The top Air Force officer General Mark Welsh called the epidemic in the military "stunning" during a congressional hearing earlier this year.
In another case, the top general in charge of an Air Force court martial at Aviano Air Base in Italy overturned the sexual assault conviction of a lieutenant colonel. They threw out his one-year prison sentence and reinstated him to duty, Reuters reported.
