Woman Fends Off Assault With Fast Thinking and Swift Kick

A quick-thinking, 20-year-old woman used a hip roll and a swift kick in the groin to fend off an assault, the Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, she entered the underground parking garage at her apartment in the 22700 block of Lake Forest Drive.

She noticed a man under a vehicle and assumed he was making repairs. But as she got out of her car, the man attacked her from behind, reaching around and unzipping her pants.

“My baby was in the car,” the woman said, “and at first I just wanted him to get away from me and the baby. She was in the back seat, crying.”

Although she had no self-defense training, the woman knocked the man backward with her hip, spun around and kicked him in the groin. That sent the assailant to his knees, and he was last seen crawling out of the garage on all fours.

“I had couple seconds of panic,” the woman said, “and then then I told myself not to panic--that’s the worst. . . . When I figured out what he wanted, I took control of the situation,” she said. “I just wanted him to get away from the car and away from the baby.”

Deputies are looking for the man, Lt. Dan Martini said.

“My husband has been out all day trying to find Mace or pepper spray,” the woman said.