Jogger tells of being assaulted on Schuylkill Banks Trail

Jogging may never be the same on the Schuylkill Banks Trail for the 28-year-old Center City lawyer whose memories of a recent attack were refreshed Thursday during a City Hall meeting about safety concerns along the river.

The woman watched quietly from beyond a large, round table where city officials and activists discussed plans to step up police patrols, add emergency signs, and fix broken lights along the prominent promenade.

The riverbank - named this summer as the No. 1 urban trail in the country - has become the scene of what police say are weekly attacks, gropings, or harassment along a picturesque stretch between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the South Street Bridge.

"I've been extremely jumpy since then," the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Inquirer as the meeting came to a close.

The attack came at 7 on a weeknight, Oct. 28. As she ran along the floating boardwalk section of the trail, a man grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth, she said. She bit his hand and screamed.

"Shut up," the attacker replied, and the two struggled, catching the attention of people above on the nearby South Street Bridge, she said.

The lawyer broke loose and called 911 while sprinting away. Police, she said, have yet to make an arrest.

She has not set foot again on the trail, which has become popular with cyclists and walkers as well. A portion of the 15-year-old trail is dark at night because of electrical problems that have prevented the city from repairing the trail lights.

"The light situation doesn't help," said the woman, who hoped officials would consider installing security cameras to aid in arrests and deter crimes. Police made no such promise Thursday.

But officials urged people to file police reports with detailed descriptions while officers inform youths on the trail that what they are doing could qualify, in some cases, as sex crimes. In a number of cases, groups of youths on bicycles have been the aggressors, officials said.

The meeting was convened by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson. Reports of suspected crimes first came to the attention of police from social media postings in May.

The meeting took on new urgency after the woman's attack last week and another incident at 7 p.m. Sunday. In that case, a woman was groped on the buttocks while running near a group of three to five boys ages 13 to 16, Police Capt. Raymond Convery said.

"In the last three weeks, there has been one incident per week," Johnson said. "Over the last several months, the police have increased their presence on the trail, with additional uniformed and plainclothes officers on bikes and on foot patrols."

Convery said eight uniformed bicycle police have been dispatched to patrol the trail in shifts, as have plainclothes officers using their own bikes.

Officials also hope to install more mile markers by the spring with numerical codes that will help 911 dispatchers immediately determine a caller's location. The Department of Parks and Recreation also will assign some of its rangers, who have no power to make arrests, to help patrol.

There is no telling, however, how soon broken lights along a stretch from Vine to Race Streets will be repaired. Michael DiBerardinis, the parks and recreation commissioner, said the lights cannot be easily repaired.

Joe Syrnick, who heads the nonprofit Schuylkill Development Corp., said officials were considering affixing solar lights to lampposts in the next six months as a temporary measure.

"Everybody would like all the lights on every day," said Syrnick, whose group manages the trail. "Nobody's happy that these incidents are happening."

mpanaritis@phillynews.com

215-854-2431@Panaritism