Woman Fights Off Would Be Mugger At Fort Tryon Park In Inwood
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The search continued Friday for a man who attacked a woman at a popular park in Upper Manhattan.
At around 9:30 a.m., Mary Jane Jarman was pushing her 8-month-old baby, Thayne, in a stroller through Fort Tryon Park in Inwood when a man holding a broken bottle jumped out at her, CBS 2 reported.
"A man climbed over the railing with a broken bottle and said come here, come here and I started yelling, screaming, trying to draw as much attention as I could to myself," Jarman said.
When Jarman began to run away, the man grabbed her and put her in a bear hug, knocking over the stroller in the process, CBS 2 reported.
"He got me in a bear hug at one point, down on the ground and I just kept hitting and hitting him and he took off," Jarman said.
She said she then grabbed a bike pump she had in the stroller and began striking him in the head.
The man fled on foot, CBS 2's Janelle Burrell reported.
""Hit him, hit him, hit him, I'm not going down like that," Jarman said, "I would have done anything to protect him."
The Jarmans told Burrell that they were shaken but thankful that nobody was hurt.
"He didn't ask for a wallet. He didn't try to take anything. His motivation was to hurt me," Jarman said.
Her husband Joe agreed.
"I was very relieved that she wasn't physically harmed. I'm happy she's okay," he said.
Parks Department employees told police they spotted the suspect in the park and he had gashes on his face, Burrell reported.
Helicopters and patrol cars circled the area near 190th Street and Fort Washington Avenue where the attack took place.
Frequent walkers at the very busy park said they were stunned by news of the attack.
"I walk, run every day and I've never experienced anything like that. I don't know -- it's a rare situation," one man told Burrell.
"It makes me not want to come here," one woman told Burrell. "But I mean what can you do? It's not something that's expected."
Woman Fights Off Would Be Mugger At Fort Tryon Park In Inwood
EMS crews did respond to the scene, but no one was seriously injured in the attack, Burrell reported.
The suspect is described an an Hispanic male, 25 to 30 years old, 5-foot-9l, weighing about 160 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans and a long blue thermal shirt.
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