Jogger used pepper spray to fight off attacker on popular greenway

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A woman who was jogging along the Mallard Creek Greenway earlier this fall said she fought off her attacker after being jumped from behind.

"Before the attack, I was headstrong and stubborn,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “You know, I ran by myself. I exercised by myself. I had no fear, no doubt."

[PAST COVERAGE: Woman attacked while jogging on Charlotte greenway, police say]

That mentality changed, she said, on Sept. 15.

"Somebody had picked up my ponytail and slammed my face in the ground a couple of times," the victim told veteran crime reporter Glenn Counts.

She said the attacker began to drag her off the trail and into the woods, but she fought back.

"I managed to knee him as hard as I could in the groin, and he fell off me a bit and thank God, my pepper spray managed to be a couple of feet away -- and I crawled over to it, and I sprayed him, and I took off running."

Another jogger helped her and called police.

She was battered and bruised, but that was not the worst of her injuries.

"I lost a lot of my pride. I was ashamed. I was afraid," she said.

The attacker got away and police are still looking for him.

The wife and mother said she took a chance by fighting back.

"I have a son at home and when (the attacker) was on top of me, I thought, 'I got to get home to him, no matter what,'” the woman said. “I didn't want him to look back and read an article about something bad happening to his mom and wonder if she tried hard enough."

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