Police said Friday detectives 'have reason to believe' the suspect may have raped other women.

Leroyea Simmons and Cristian Garcia were hauling out the night’s trash from Cantina 101 about 2:20 a.m. Friday and saw them: Christopher Shaw and the woman he is accused of raping.

Simmons said Shaw told them the woman was his girlfriend. Several other people stood nearby, watching.

“Her panties were all the way down and I saw him sexually assault her. He’s like, ‘She’s my girlfriend.’ At first it really didn’t register. There was a group of people in front of them who were like ‘That’s our friends,’” Simmons said. “We see she’s barely conscious. I told him, ‘You have to chill with this.’ I pushed him back and grabbed her by the shoulders.”

Garcia, a University of Florida walk-on linebacker on the football team, found soon himself engaged with Shaw.

“I turned around and pulled the guy by the shoulder and said ‘Get off.’ That pretty much ended the situation then,” Garcia said. “He was intoxicated and attempted to throw some punches, but he slipped and busted his face on the wall.”

Garcia and Jackson took care of the woman. Shaw’s friends whisked him away. Police were called.

Shaw faces a sexual battery charge. Police say they have “reason to believe” he may have raped others, Gainesville police officer Ben Tobias said.

Tobias couldn't say specifically why police believe that.

“Just some of the information that we gained from our interview with him and some other leads that our detectives are working,” Tobias said.

Friday's sexual assault was the latest of many that have happened near the strip of bars and restaurants just north of the University of Florida that often stay crowded until the bars close at 2 a.m.

The 19-year-old woman was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and a forensic examination.

Shaw, 34, was charged with sexual battery and was in the county jail in lieu of $500,000 bond Friday night.

Police said though she was under age, she was highly intoxicated. She told police she did not know the man and didn't consent to having sex with him, the report said. She tried to push him away “but was physically helpless because she was going in and out of consciousness due to her level of intoxication,” the police report said.

Shaw told police he was walking through the alley and the woman pulled him next to the Dumpsters. He acknowledged "making out" with her but denied any sexual contact, the report says. His account is "completely contradicted" by the video and the woman's statement, the police report said.

Simmons said he and Garcia recorded video of the incident on their cellphones and gave it to police.

He said he remembers seeing Shaw in Cantina 101, located at 1632 W. University Ave. He remembered seeing the woman walk by outside, but never saw her inside Cantina 101.

At one point, Simmons said, one of the bystanders got the woman’s phone. Simmons said he asked if she was the woman’s friend.

“She said she was trying to help out and I said, ‘No, we don’t need your help now. Where were you before — why are you coming out of the blue trying to help her now?’ Then she said she didn’t know her,” Simmons said. “That’s why we put two and two together — they didn’t know her, but they knew him. I took the phone.”

Garcia said he's certain Shaw’s friends knew what was going on and were waiting for him.

Simmons used the victim's phone and texted one of her friends, asking her to come to the scene to help. Shaw reportedly tried to approach him, Simmons said, so he again started filming him with his camera.

If a woman is that intoxicated, she can’t give consent, Garcia said. So he figured what they were witnessing shouldn't be happening.

Because of that, he didn't hesitate before intervening. Garcia said Cantina 101 teaches employees how to diffuse situations without aggression, which is why he pulled Shaw by the shoulders but nothing more forceful than that.

“If that was my sister, I would hope that somebody would do the same thing. So I just reacted that way,” Garcia said. “We didn’t attempt to detain him because we didn’t know what he was going try to do. He was with about five friends who were trying to hold him back and they took him off.”

Almost exactly two years ago, Shaw and a slightly younger man with the same last name, were seen fighting in the 1600 block of Northwest First Avenue. When a police officer tried to handcuff the younger man, Shaw jumped on her back and began to pummel her, police said. Court records did not indicate what became of the charges, which included disorderly conduct and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Many sexual batteries have occurred over the years in the West University Avenue and Northwest 17th Street area.

Some have happened after people met in the bars, including Cantina 101. In some cases, men offered to give a woman a ride home, or walk her to her car or home.

UF students said they are aware rape is a danger and take precautions to prevent it.

“I think it can happen everywhere,” said Juliette Experton, a chemistry graduate student. “UF is probably thought to be a safe environment but on crazy nights like Wednesday (Ladies Night at many local bars) … you have to be careful.”

Experton took a free self-defense class offered for women on campus to prepare for dangerous situations.

“I think the real problem right now is people see it as a minor event when it’s not happening to them, but we have to do something about it,” she said.

UF music junior Joshua Pearsaul, 19, works in the Dean of Students office on campus. He said the office sees many cases of sexual assault, but it's rare to hear about one occurring in such a public place.

“Usually you’ll see cases where it’s off campus somewhere, like far away, but to think it can happen in a local place like this, it’s kind of surprising.”

Pearsaul said if he witnessed a similar situation, he wouldn’t hesitate to intervene.

“If it were physical, I would probably physically get involved with the perpetrator, either separate them or restrain him however I could,” he said.

Joanna Lubin, a third-year linguistics student, received a UF notification on her phone during biology class and was surprised.

“I immediately was shocked just 'cause I was in that area like, 20 minutes ago,” she said.

She remembers receiving many text notifications about attempted sexual assaults during her freshman year.

“I think everyone should be aware that it can happen and they should know the precautions and the steps they can take to avoid the situation and also to contact other people for help,” she said.

Underage drinking has been a chronic problem in the area where the assault occurred. Its proximity to campus makes it appealing to students who live in dormitories or nearby.

The city used to have an ordinance that penalized bars found to have repeated underage drinking that has proven to be tricky to enforce. Bar challenges to citations have been successful — administrative judges often find that the bars can't be held responsible if they have done what is required of them, such as checking IDs.

Gainesville city commissioners last year discussed other options, including barring minors from bars or creating a permit system that would allow them only in bars that have few underage violations.

But no action was taken.

Police and UF officials recommend women stay with friends when out at bars, decline drinks from strangers, keep an eye on their drinks to spot any tampering with drugs, leave with friends and do not accept rides from strangers.

They also urge anyone who sees who sees a sexual assault to call police. Anyone who sees a situation that could develop into trouble at a party or a bar should intervene.