Maria Ball was running along Ravenna Boulevard around 6:45 a.m. Friday when she was attacked. She says a man came up behind her on the sidewalk, close to where the road passes under I-5, and grabbed her chest and crotch.
Ball, 26, screamed and fought back.
“He grabbed me from behind and all I knew in that moment was this is not right this is not okay. Scream, do something you need to get help, you need to get help,” remembered Ball.
She threw back her elbows striking the attacker, and says he ran off. Neighbors came outside and called 9-1-1.
Ball is telling her story to warn other runners.
She says she got away because of a self defense class she took last year.
“I went to this class thinking I’m never going to need these skills. I’m doing this to be a supportive friend. This morning, if I had not gone to that class, I probably would not be alive,” said Ball.
Ball says she saw the man on the other side of the street, near a homeless encampment, when she ran by on her way to Ravenna Park around 6:25 a.m. When she turned around and headed back to Green Lake she thinks he was waiting for her on the other side of the street.
The police report became accessible to the Seattle Police Department media unit Friday night. A spokesperson told KIRO 7 any connection between the attack and the homeless encampment would be speculative.
Ball is a member of a Green Lake Running Group