A woman jogging in a Claremont park was sexually assaulted Monday by a man she was ultimately able to fight off.
Claremont police said the woman was attacked around 7 a.m. at Blaisdell Park, 440 S. College Ave. when a man approached her from behind and shoved her to the ground.
The woman, identifying herself only as Murphy, told reporters she immediately started screaming.
“He took his hand up, put his hand over my mouth, and so I bit him as hard as I could,” she said.
The mother of a 6-year-old girl said she wasn’t immediately clear of the nature of the attack.
“I mean, I didn’t have a clear certainty that it was a sexual assault until he started pulling my pants down,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, this is not what’s happening.’ So I was trying as best I could to defend myself and get away.”
She said she could feel his hips thrusting against her while she was on the ground. When she managed to push him away, she said the man was smiling.
The suspect was described as Hispanic, about 20-30 years old, 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds, with brown hair and eyes and a light mustache. He was wearing tan pants and a red-and-white baseball-type shirt, and had a flannel shirt “wrapped around his head,” police said.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call Claremont police at (909) 399-5411.
Police commended the victim for fighting back against her attacker, and advised women to take precautions, such as jogging with a friend or carrying a whistle or other means of drawing attention.
— City News Service