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 14th 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.
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“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.
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“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.”
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