News Center 7's Sean Cudahy spoke to the victim, Carrie Yost, who described what happened to her as she was out walking, heading back to her apartment.
“I heard somebody yell ‘hey’ coming out of the bike path. I turned around and there was a man there,” she said. “I felt a little uneasy so I tried to pick up the pace.”
That’s when Yost said the man chased her, but she couldn’t get away.
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“He grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me down and basically kind of frisked me me, looked to see if I had anything on me but I didn’t,” she said.
Then the guy ran off, and Yost was fortunately physically unharmed.
“Shocked. I was really shocked and surprised,” she said about the incident.
She returned home and called the Springfield Police Division, but officers were unable to find the suspect. It was dark and almost impossible to get a good look at the man.
Bicyclists in the area said they were disturbed by the incident.
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“I definitely wouldn’t come down here by myself, that’s for sure,” one said.
Todd Elliott said: “I suggest taking protection with you.”
Something Yost is doing now, in the form of pepper spray.
She said she is grateful it wasn’t worse, and believes her attacker likely was on drugs.
“The only thing I can do is pray for that person as well and that they get a breakthrough in life and hopefully they’re not going to hurt anyone else,” Yost said.
FIRST REPORT
A Springfield woman said she was attacked this weekend on the bike path.
“(The victim) stated that around 2 a.m. she went outside to speak with her husband on the phone,” the police report says. “She said she was walking and talking and had walked to the bike path up the street from her house. She stated that while she was on the bike path, north of Red Coach, she heard a male yell ‘hey’ to her.”
The woman said she tried to ignore the man, but he approached her.
“The male then ran toward her, grabbing her by the neck. She said he had a hold of her shirt, which ripped as he pulled her to the ground. Once on the ground, she said the male started to feel her pockets. At this time she said the male took off running northbound on Red Coach Road toward Villa Road.”
The woman said the male did not get anything from her. However, the police report categorizes the incident as an unarmed robbery.
Officers checked the area but were unable to find the suspect, the report says.
Anyone with information can call Springfield police at 937-324-7680.