‘I can defend myself': Jogger takes down man on electric bike who she says groped her

A woman detained a man on an electric bike who she says groped her while she was jogging.

The woman says the man slapped her backside as he passed by at 14^th and North Rolfe streets in the Courthouse area of Arlington, Virginia, Thursday afternoon.

“I didn’t thought about it,” she said. “I just want to catch him, especially when I saw him smiling and taking off on his electric bike.”

The determined woman says she flagged down a motorist who helped.

“He smacked me from behind, and I saw him smile, like he’s smiling, and he just took off and I tried to catch him,” she said. “I couldn’t catch him, and then I found a guy in a car and I asked the guy if he could help me chase the guy, and he helped me.”

They followed the man for almost a mile through busy Arlington. 

She finally caught up with him in Rosslyn and physically subdued him with a chokehold at Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn Street until police arrived.

“Once I saw him try to cross the street, I just jumped on him,” she said. 

The suspect, 25-year-old Edgar Estrada Espana of Arlington, was treated for minor injuries after his arrest for assault and battery. He was issued a summons and released.

“It’s scary, now,” the woman said. “I don’t feel, like, safe going out by myself, but eventually I’ll get back for my runs. I know I can defend myself, and hopefully that will never happen again to me or anyone else.”