Woman Recounts Escape From Would-Be Rapist
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – You don't need to know this woman's name, or see her face to know she is brave. Though she says she didn't feel brave when she fought off the man who tried to rape her in a dark Northeast Miami-Dade parking lot.
"I was scared. I was scared. I was scared. All in my mind he's gonna kill me, that's what I was thinking about, he's gonna kill me he's gonna kill me," said the woman who asked to remain unidentified.
She fought off an armed man who tried to attack and has now summoned up the courage to speak on camera about the attack, in hopes of protecting other women.
"I think the next time he strikes he's really gonna damage the next woman," she said.
She was riding her bike home from work at 4:30 Monday morning when she got a flat and had to walk down West Dixie Highway near 119th Street. The man ran from behind and tried to tackle her. But the woman refused to be his victim.
"It happened so quick, we were fighting. He was dragging me, he was hitting me, and I was just trying to stop him from really hurting me bad. When I looked in his face he had a deep deep darkness in his face, like he was really angry, like he really wanted to hurt me."
In addition to physically defending herself, she says she used the power of her voice to stop him.
"I told myself just fight with the last power you have in you, and I kept screaming 'God help me, help me, help me, God.' I just kept screaming, screaming. And he just put his hand over my mouth and I took his hand off and he just – the screaming got to him and he let me go."
Though she escaped the attack without serious physical injury, the attack plagues her thoughts.
"I feel uncomfortable in my own skin. When I lay down at night and I close my eyes all I see is his face," she said.
And this strong woman's message to her attacker is in part, one of compassion.
"He needs to turn himself in because this is not no life to live. The end of that road is bitter," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS or send a text message to CRIMES and enter CSMD followed by the "tip".
