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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994                   TAG: 9405180103
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

WOMAN FIGHTS OFF 3 MEN POSING AS POLICE AT RURAL RAILROAD CROSSING

A woman was able to escape her attackers Monday night when three men - one of whom flashed what appeared to be a police badge - accosted her while she was stopped at a railroad crossing in the Walton community in Montgomery County.

Lt. J.T. Whitt said the woman was driving down Walton Road, a cross road bordered by Virginia 114 and U.S. 11, about 11 p.m. The woman was using the rural road because Memorial Bridge connecting Pulaski County and Radford has been closed for several weeks while being repaired.

The woman told authorities that as she approached the railroad crossing, she noticed that the crossing gate was down, but the railroad warning lights were not flashing. She also saw an older model white car parked on the gravel near the railroad tracks. A man approached her car, flashed a badge of some type, told the woman she had been speeding and asked her to step out of her car, Whitt said.

When the woman demanded to see some identification, the man flashed the badge again and asked her again to step from her car. As she did, she saw another man approaching. The first man grabbed her by the shirt, the woman told deputies, tearing it and causing a slight wound to her upper chest.

The woman said she resisted the two men, and when she saw a third man approach, she kicked the first two men in the groin.

The woman said she pushed away the third man, got back into her car, weaved through the crossing gate and left.

Deputies interviewed the woman in Radford after she called to report the incident. They searched the Walton area but located nothing, Whitt said.

by CNB