A woman says a man tried to grab her as she was jogging Monday morning on the Freedom Park Trail in Atlanta.
She turned and yelled and looked the guy right in the eyes, which was made the man run right back into the woods.
"It was scary. it brought back a lot of fear, but I'm trying to conquer that," Pearl Ryder said.
The Emory University medical student said it was around 10:30 a.m. Monday when she set out on the trail, as she's done so many times. But when she got to the intersection of North and Euclid, she says her run took a dangerous turn.
"All of a sudden I heard a rustling of leaves and I turned around and there was a man chasing me," Ryder said.
She said the fact that she wasn't wearing headphones, let her hear the man before he could get his hands on her. Plus, she says recent training from the Crisis Prevention Institute gave her what she needed to protect herself.
"He was way too close to me and as soon as I turned around he was grabbing for me," Ryder said. "So, I moved back. I put my hands up in front of my face ready to defend myself if he were to punch me, and I started yelling."
That was enough to scare him off. Channel 2's Carl Willis talked to others on the trail and they said they're also going to take steps to prevent an attack.
"I'm starting to think about carrying Mace or pepper spray and not going out at night," said resident Abby Carney.
Ryder said the man was clean cut in his 50's with ash blond hair. She's still shaken by what happened and what could have happened.
"The fact that there were people using the trail at the time really helped me. It helped to provide eyes to stop anything more from happening," Ryder said.
Police said their path force units canvassed around the Beltline, but no arrests have been made.
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