Austin police received a report from a teacher's aide at Ellis Middle School that a student may have been assaulted on the way to school Friday.

However, police stressed the word "possibly" in releasing the report.

The 12-year-old boy said he was walking to school at 6:40 a.m. Friday when a man got out of a red pickup truck parked in the vicinity of 10th and 11th streets NE.

According to the boy's report to the teacher's aide, the man demanded money and brandished a knife when he did not comply.

The boy said the assailant smelled of alcohol and he hit him over the head with something not identified in the report and ran all the way to school.

What makes the report suspicious in the minds of police is the fact the boy did not immediately report the incident. Not until being given a ride home Friday afternoon by the teacher's aide did he report the possible assault.

In an unrelated incident on school property, students at Sumner Elementary School on the city's northwest side reported a man invited a group of girls to be in a movie.

According to the account related from the girls to Austin police, the man rode up to the girls on a mountain bicycle and asked them to be in the movie.

The report also stated he got off the bicycle and performed push ups on the ground and exercises before getting back on the bicycle and riding away shouting "God bless you."

The man is described as 40-something with short gray hair and wearing a blue ball cap and riding a blue bike.

The students were unharmed, but told their principal of the encounter around 3 p.m. Friday.

Clerk escapes injury

A night clerk at the Kwik Trip convenience store in Austin escaped injury when a full-sized van rammed into the building.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the incident occurred 9:12 p.m. Friday.

After ramming the south end of the Kwik Trip building at the intersection of West Oakland Avenue and 12th Street SW, the van sped away from the scene dragging plastic milk crates beneath the vehicle.

Austin police caught up with the van in southwest Austin and took the driver, Christopher Charlson, 30 of Austin, into custody. Felony fleeing a police officer, gross misdemeanor DWI and leaving the scene of an accident were among the charges filed against the driver.

The impact of Charlson's van striking the building caused the south wall to buckle inward and shoved the night clerk's desk four feet away from the wall.

The clerk was uninjured in the crash, police said.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com