FARMVILLE — A Farmville man has been charged with the attempted rape of a Longwood University student.

According to arrest warrants on file in Prince Edward County’s General District Court, Earnest Neal Harvey, Jr., 22, has been charged with attempted rape, attempted robbery and assault and battery.

Farmville and Longwood University police responded to the pedestrian bridge near Buffalo Street and Lancer Park at 12:44 a.m. on November 21, according to a press release authorized by Farmville Police Chief Doug Mooney.

A Longwood University student was walking back to Lancer Park when she was approached by a male suspect near the bridge, according to the press release.

She was knocked to the ground and assaulted before breaking free and running to an emergency call box nearby, the press release states, where she was able to make a call to Longwood University police.

A Farmville police officer, the release continues, also happened to be nearby on a traffic stop “and heard her screaming and directed responding units to the area.”

The police press release states that the suspect was “captured several blocks away.”