BATON ROUGE - Investigators with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office say a man was booked on a rape charge after the victim kicked him in the face and made her escape last month.

34-year-old Samuel Barrera Jr. was booked on one count of third degree rape after he was arrested by deputies on Wednesday.

Deputies said the victim encountered Barrera and two other men at around 3 a.m. on May 15 after she realized her phone’s battery was dead and she needed to make a call. The victim told investigators that the men let her use one of their phones, but then grabbed her, forced her into a red car and brought her back to their residence.

The arrest report says Barrera removed the woman’s clothes below her waist and raped her inside the house, but she was able to struggle free and kick him in the face. A second blow to the head allowed her the time she needed to escape down the stairs of the residence despite her severe intoxication.

As she made her way to a neighbor’s house with the porch light on, the half-naked woman grabbed a piece of mail from the man’s mailbox which would later be used to identify him.

Deputies said they were dispatched to the residence to find the woman in an “abnormally intoxicated state.” She was unable to stand on her own without falling over and had slurred speech. The victim was taken to Woman’s Hospital where a rape exam was administered by the EBR Parish Coroner’s Office. Multiple bruises were observed during that exam.

After taken into custody, Barrera admitted in an interview that he had in fact met the woman on the night in question, and he did say he kissed her and had sexual contact with her. However, he denied ever raping her. He told investigators that he fell asleep at some point while the woman was at his house and awoke to find that she was gone.

DNA samples obtained during the coroner’s exam have been submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for further analysis.

Barrera was booked into the EBR Parish Prison on the above charge.