Woman Assaulted on Capital Crescent Trail

Update, 9:35 a.m.: A 21-year-old woman told police she was knocked unconscious, dragged into the woods and possibly sexually assaulted while she was jogging on the Capital Crescent Trail Sunday evening.

Police responded at the trail around 7:13 p.m., according to police spokeswoman Angela Cruz.

The woman said she had been jogging on the trail near the 4900 block of Brookeway Drive in Bethesda, between Massachusetts Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, when she stopped to allow deer to pass.

That’s when she said she was struck in the head from behind and knocked unconscious, Cruz said.  The woman  awoke in the woods a short time later and was able to return to the trail and call for help.

A jogger helped her to the 4900 block of Brookeway Drive, where she met with police, Cruz said.

The woman was transported to the hospital with head injuries. She remains hospitalized but is conscious and talking with investigators, Cruz said.

Police are describing the suspect as a white male in his 20s, wearing dark clothing.

Police are investigating the incident as a sex assault, Cruz said. The woman told police she believes she was sexually assaulted.

Original post, 12:41a.m.: A woman was assaulted on the Capital Crescent Trail Sunday evening, Montgomery County police reported via Twitter.

Second District police officers responded to the trail around 7:13 p.m., according to the tweet.

The Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail, a volunteer-run trail advocacy group, also reported the assault on its website.

“There was just another attack on the CCT, occurred at about 7 p.m.,” the post read. “The woman escaped .... It was on the Montgomery section. The suspect fled on a bicycle with a basket on the front.”

Several other attacks have been reported on the trail in recent months, including three assaults and attempted robberies in the Wisconsin Avenue tunnel.