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Jogger reports assault on Durham's American Tobacco Trail

Police arrested a man Tuesday night after a woman told police she was assaulted while jogging on the American Tobacco Trail in Durham.

Posted Updated
Leon Edwards
DURHAM, N.C. — Police arrested a man Tuesday night after a woman told police she was assaulted while jogging on the American Tobacco Trail in Durham.

Leon Edwards, 48, of Woodcroft Parkway in Durham, was charged with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery and jailed under a $3,000 bond.

The woman said she was on the trail around 8:15 p.m. when a man matching Edwards' description approached her and asked her several times for her phone number.

About 10 minutes after she refused, she said she was jogging on the trail near the 5600 block of Fayetteville Road when the man jumped out from the bushes and grabbed her from behind, police said.

She was able to escape and find a police officer.

Investigators found Edwards a short time later behind a Circle K on Woodcroft Parkway.

In general, police urge people not to go out at night alone and to stay in well-lit, familiar areas.

Report any suspicious activity to police, and, when out walking or jogging, get away as fast as possible to a safe location, if approached, police say.

Personal alarms, they say, can help deter potential attackers.

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