A 15-year-old girl was stabbed in the leg as she escaped an attempted sexual assault last night by two men while she was out for a jog near the railroad tracks just south of Maple Valley.
King County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the men, described as white and in their late teens or early twenties, says Sgt. Cindi West, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies could not determine last night precisely where the attack took place and are re-interviewing the girl today.
The girl, a student in Tahoma schools, is back home today after being treated for the wound, which West describes as serious but not life-threatening.
The girl told deputies that she had jogged past the two men around 8 p.m. when they started to verbally harass her. She ignored them and continued running, but they caught up to her, grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. They tried remove her pants, and as she tried to escape, one stabbed her in the leg with a pocket knife.
The girl managed to run to a friend’s house on 284th Street, where 911 was called.
West says the girl did not indicate that she knew the men.
Deputies believe the girl was jogging along the Lake Wilderness Trail extension that runs to the Burlington Northern – Santa Fe Railroad crossing, but the girl was so upset last night that deputies had trouble deciphering the exact location of the attack, West says. The area is near state Route 169 just south of the Maple Valley city limits in unincorporated King County.
Deputies searched for the men but did not find them last night. The girl described one of the men as wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and camouflage shorts.
Anyone with information should call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 or 911.
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That’s my favorite place to walk our dog. I was just in the park yesterday. I got really angry and sad when I heard about this.
@Peter L
While I would normally agree with you, She is a teenager and they are not eligible under the law to get a concealed carry permit.
Pepper spray? Let her get a concealed carry permit.
Good for her for getting away from these guys. Sad to say, but even out here, a woman should not be jogging alone late in the evening.
It is sad we still live in a society like that, but that is where we are. Once she recovers, and if she has not already done so, she should take a few self defense course and carry some kind of protection like pepper spray, tactical baton or whatever. She got away, she is awesome, but take it as a learning lesson and train for this possibility again.