In a shocking and shameful incident, a man assaulted a former US senator from Arizona Martha McSally when she was jogging along the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The incident occurred on Wednesday morning, and McSally detailed the attack in a video posted on Instagram.
In her video statement, 57-year-old McSally recounted the harrowing experience, saying, "A man came up behind me and he engulfed me in a bear hug, and he molested and fondled me until I fought him off. I then chased him down. I was in a fight, flight, or freeze, and I chose to fight."
'I chased him into the bush'
Following the incident, McSally pursued the assailant into the brush at Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park and reported the assault to the Council Bluffs Police. "I ran after him. I threw my water bottle at him, I chased him into the bush, where he was then hiding. I called 911 and waited for the police to come. I don't think they found him and I'm okay," McSally explained.
However, by the time officers arrived around 11 am local time, the man had managed to escape. The police have launched a manhunt for the culprit.
McSally, who served as a senator and later became a keynote speaker, was in the area to deliver a speech about courage, just across the Missouri River in Omaha, on the same evening. Despite the traumatic encounter, McSally urged people who had be sexually assaulted to speak up. "For anyone else who has been assaulted, speak up. Find your power. Process it emotionally, spiritually, neurologically. I am safe," she captioned the video.
