A woman in her late 20s rode her bike along West 4th Avenue at 12:15 Thursday morning. Although it was dark and the temperature was a chilling 35 degrees, she was confident she would reach her Eugene home safely – until she saw the man standing there.
He was Hispanic, short and stocky, perhaps only 5 feet 4 inches tall. He had a rolled blue bandanna tied over his short, dark hair. His shirt was dark, and she thought it might be some sort of sports jersey.
But she didn’t have time to find out exactly what his shirt said. When she biked through the intersection at West 4th Avenue and Monroe Street, the man tried to flag her down. She panicked and rode down another street in an effort to leave him behind.
As she rode down the 700 block of West 5th Avenue, she thought she had lost him. Whatever temporary relief she had was short-lived, however; at that moment, she felt a tug at the back of her bike. She turned around and saw the same man grasping the bike, but didn’t have time to retaliate. The next thing she knew, she had fallen off the bike.
The man hit her again and again and he tried to pull her clothes off. When his hand came near her mouth, she bit him. It worked – the man jumped up, clutched his finger, and ran away.
Detectives at the Eugene Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit are investigating this attempted rape case. They have not identified the man or made any arrests. EPD asks that anyone who witnessed the assault, has any information about the suspect, knows of someone who recently sustained a finger injury, or has any other information call Detective Matt Herbert at 682-5147.
– Jill Kimball