Paul Bass Photo
The Yale Avenue cycletrack and edge of the park.
A woman who often jogs in the morning with a group of friends set out alone Thursday — and ended up fending off an attacker.
The attack occurred around 6:15 a.m. by the edge of Edgewood Park on Yale Avenue between Edgewood Avenue and West Elm Street.
A 38-year-old lower Westville resident was jogging along the pedestrian/cycle track when a man approached her with a gun and began punching her in the face, according to Police Chief Karl Jacobson.
The man didn’t say anything. He tried to push her into the park.
The woman began screaming and freed herself, fleeing the scene, Jacobson said. The attacker fled into the park woods.
“We’re not clear what the motive was” in the attack, Jacobson said. He urged anyone with surveillance video footage or other relevant information to contact detectives at (203) 946‑6304.
Cops responded to the scene of the crime, spoke with witnesses, and obtained footage. Patrol K‑9 cops sought the attacker but did not locate him. An ambulance crew treated the woman for minor injuries.
Police will increase patrols in the neighborhood while the investigation continues, Jacobson said.
Also Thursday, a driver crashed into a vehicle driven by Sgt. Chris Fennessey, according to Jacobson. Fennessey was on his way home from work in the afternoon, near the police station headed toward the highway. The driver was heading in the other direction, turned left, crashed into one vehicle, then head-on into Fennessey’s vehicle. Fennessey and occupants of the two other vehicles were brought to the hospital to be checked for what appeared to be minor injuries, according to Jacobson.