H.I.T. Self Defense

A woman was grabbed and fondled in the Target parking lot Thursday night before she fought the unknown assailant off with her keys, according to Kelso police reports.

The woman told police she was by her car just after 10 p.m. when she heard a man yell “Hey” at her. Scared, she tried to get back into her car, but the man grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her up against the vehicle and groped her, according to police reports.

The woman fought back and scratched her car key across the man’s face, she told police. She believes she scratched him hard enough to leave a cut or mark. He slammed her hard enough into her car to leave a dent, cursed at her and then ran off in the direction of the Red Lobster, according to police reports.

Distraught, the woman drove to friend’s house before calling police.

(Wenatchee, WA) Wenatchee police report a 25 year old woman was able to fight off an attacker in an attempted rape early this morning in the parking lot of Wenatchee Valley Hospital at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

A jogger fought off a man who grabbed her while she was on her way to her Ann Arbor home Tuesday night, police said.

The 23-year-old woman told police she was jogging in the 400 block of Thompson Street at about 11:30 p.m. when a stranger jumped from between two houses and grabbed her by the throat and wrist,
detective Sgt. Pat Hughes said.

He forced her up against a tree and she kicked him in the groin and ran home as he lost his grip.

She declined medical treatment.

The attacker is described as black, about 5-feet-10 inches tall and in his 30s with a thick build, Hughes said. He was last seen wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and dark pants.

A woman fought back “like a tigress” when she was attacked by a would-be rapist early yesterday.

She punched, kicked and scratched the man until he fled into the bush.

Detective Sergeant Mark Bland said: “She fought hard - she feared for her safety.”

Police said the man tore at the woman’s clothes and demanded sex several times during the frenzied attack.

It was the second similar assault in Darwin in two days and prompted a warning from police for women to be on their guard at night.

A 43-year-old jogger thwarted a sex attacker by stabbing him with a piece of thin wire after he grabbed her in a park near the Stuart Highway, Stuart Park, on Friday morning.

Yesterday’s attack took place on the side of Gilruth Ave, The Gardens, about 3.30am.

The 40-year-old victim had been to the SkyCity casino and was walking along the grass verge on the side the road opposite the George Brown Botanic Gardens heading to her nearby home.

The man grabbed her, wrestled her to the ground and tried to tear off her clothes.

But the woman put up a heroic defence and fought the attacker off.

She then flagged down a taxi.

The woman was still too traumatised last night to talk about her ordeal.

Police are appealing for help in identifying the attacker.

He was described as being of Aboriginal appearance, about 175cm tall and in his early to mid 20s. He has short dark curly hair and was wearing a blue shirt and dark blue jeans. He had a white bandage on his left wrist and was carrying a small black backpack.

Sgt Bland urged anyone in the area when the attack took place to contact police urgently.

He said two attacks in two days was “a concern” and said women out after dark should stay with someone else or in well-lit areas.

“We are appealing to women especially to take extra care and not leave themselves vulnerable by walking alone at night,” he said.

“These offenders are by nature predatory and opportunistic and target those females who are vulnerable by being alone and isolated at night.”