A 34 year-old woman told the Bloomington Police Department a man attempted to pull her into the woods just off the trail near the Monroe County YMCA where she was jogging.
Bloomington police received the call at approximately 11:45 p.m. Aug. 16.
The woman kneed her attacker in the groin and fought back until he ran off and left her on the trail. She called 911 and BPD arrived on the scene to assist. The woman sustained a knee injury as well as a number of cuts and scrapes on her body.
The assailant was wearing a blue ski mask and a dark hoodie, but no other defining characteristics are known at this time. He was unarmed and displayed no weapon, according to the report.
BPD Capt. Steve Kellams said when on these trails, and at night in general, people should be aware of themselves and their surroundings. Being with a group or at least one other individual is also helpful from a safety perspective.
Similar cases have been reported along both the B-line trail through the center of town and the Clear Creek trail on the southwest side of Bloomington. However, these reports of criminal activity on the trails are not an epidemic, but actually a minority of all criminal cases, Kellams said.
The amount of case reports these trail crimes generate for BPD is approximately 1 percent of all cases they receive. This percentage is small and covers a wide variety of cases that occur in the area, from robberies to traffic violations at the B-line intersection, Kellams said.
Kellams said the small total number of crimes and the wide variety that occur on the trail indicate it is not a hotbed of criminal activity.
“The trail system is safe in Bloomington,” Kellams said.
Dominick Jean
