A woman out for a morning jog tried to take down the man who exposed himself to her in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
State troopers are now searching for the man, who was captured on surveillance video running along Memorial Drive on Thursday morning. Police say he flashed the woman as she passed him.
The video shows the woman jogging and then running after that suspect.
"I’m 6 foot 1 inches (tall), pretty fit, not a very good victim to go after," said Aia, whose last name is not being used for her protection.
The man indecently exposed himself to her, and she is seen in the video turning and running after him to confront him, according to Massachusetts State Police. Police say she tried to physically detain him until she could call the police but he ran off down Amesbury Street.
Aia explained why she was so quick to fight back.
The 35-year-old single mother of two not only refused to be a victim after she says a man exposed himself twice, but also turned the tables on him right then and there.
"He was like, 'It was unintentional,' and he was running away, I told him 'I’m going to get you. You don’t lose your pants twice trying to get a girl running,'" she said.
Aia said he picked the wrong woman last Thursday morning on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
This personal trainer, who rides a motorcycle, once served in the military during her younger years in Israel.
But she says it wasn’t any of her previous training that compelled her to restrain the man and fight back, but rather human instinct.
"With how I grew up, with just don’t walk by, we don’t just ignore it," she said. “I’m a mom. I have two little kids, a son and a daughter. I show (by) example and I want to show them the example, of the person I want them to grow up to be."
She held the man down for several minutes, screaming for someone to call 911.
She says what the video doesn’t show is at least four people passing by without helping.
"One more time, life showed me I can only rely only on myself," Aia said.
According to state police, the man is white with a heavy build and short, dark-colored hair with a receding hairline. Police say he was last seen wearing black and gray running clothes and black running shoes with white soles.
If you have any information or can identify the man, you are asked to contact Massachusetts State Police in Boston at 617-727-6780.
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