WASHINGTON — Hours after a WUSA9 report about a woman's attack in Downtown D.C. over the weekend, a teen girl was arrested in connection to the assault. Now, another woman says she narrowly avoided an attack herself.
Part of the assault and attempted robbery Monday afternoon was caught on video. Kate Rios told WUSA9 two girls who looked like teenagers approached her in D.C.’s Penn Quarter.
Rios said they threw her to the ground and kicked her in the head around 12:30 p.m. near 8th and D streets, Northwest.
"I was keeping my head covered as much as I could I didn't think anybody was going to come help me," Rios said.
After WUSA9's reporting, police say they arrested a 15-year-old girl for her role in the attack and five others, including some robberies, in the span of about a day.
“I read the story and I see the video and I go, 'Oh my god, it’s the same car, it’s the same girls," said a woman who claims two teenage-aged girls hopped out of a car as she was walking near Logan Circle Monday afternoon. She did not want to give her name.
“They were giggling; they were chit chatting," she said. "They didn’t appear threatening, but something was off.”
She said the car and teenagers on foot followed her, before they got back in the car near 12th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, Northwest.
The woman told us she ran into an alley to hide.
"The car drives right past me. They see me, they put the reverse lights on," she said. "I just bolted in the opposite direction.”
DC Police reports show about 10 minutes after her escape, a woman was attacked and robbed a few blocks away – something she didn’t find out until the next day.
“And then went, 'Oh wow, I was right to feel that something was off,'" she said.
She hopes her story reminds people to be aware of their surroundings.
“If something feels off, if something feels wrong like: 'Wow this is odd that this car just stopped in the middle of the street and some people got out,' don’t wait to find out," she said.
The 15-year-old suspect made her initial appearance in Juvenile Court early Wednesday morning. She remains in custody pending her next appearance.
No other arrests in these cases have been announced.