
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994                   TAG: 9409090052
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

POLICE URGE CAUTION AFTER 2 WOMEN ATTACKED

Police don't believe two attacks on women in the East Roanoke Street area during a two-week period are related.

But they are encouraging women to walk in lighted areas and not to walk alone at night.

Capt. Walter Mosby said the first incident happened Aug. 20 when a woman reported being grabbed in the chest and thrown to the ground. She screamed and ran to a nearby house for help and her attacker fled.

On Sept. 2, a woman bicyclist was attacked by a man who briefly put his hand to her mouth and knocked her off her bike to the ground, Mosby said. The woman screamed and two nearby residents came to help her. Again, the attacker ran away.

Mosby said descriptions of the attacker vary. "At this point, we're not considering it's the same person."

Roanoke Street has street lights "but the light isn't spread out like it should be because of the trees," Mosby said.

by CNB