Cops: Unconscious student in park was ill, not assaulted

Investigators believe a 15-year-old girl found unconscious in Pennypack Park got sick and passed out - and wasn't assaulted, as originally feared.

Police spokeswoman Officer Jillian Russell said special-victims investigators found no evidence of physical or sexual assault, and the girl doesn't recall any assault. Instead, they suspect she had "some medical issue" that made her collapse unconscious in the park as she walked in the area, Russell said.

A man walking on the sidewalk along the northbound lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard near Brous Avenue about 7:45 p.m. spotted the girl, who was wearing a school uniform, lying unconscious in brush about three feet inside a guardrail, police said.

The man called police, and after they and medics arrived, the girl regained consciousness and was alert and talking.

The teen's parents had reported her missing from the Northeast's 7th District about 7 p.m. when she never came home from school. She went to the Community Academy of Philadelphia Charter School on Erie Avenue near J Street in Juniata Park, Russell said. The girl usually takes SEPTA -- possibly a train and a bus -- home from school. Detectives still reviewing video for clues, and doctors are still assessing her medical condition, Russell said.