A personal account of a violent assault and possible rape attempt in the Mission has been making the rounds on neighborhood blogs, emails and Facebook today. The account, written by Mission resident "Amy," recalls the harrowing and all-too-recent string of extremely violent sexual assaults by Frederick Dozier Jr. in the neighborhood last year and is a strong reminder to remain vigilant and aware about your personal safety.

From Amy's story, shared to us via Facebook and reprinted on neighborhood blogs:

On Saturday evening I was walking home from a friends potluck through the mission when I was attacked - an attempted rape. I was actually being quite conscious of those around me due to the fact that I'm heading to Nairobi in several weeks and personal safety has been on my mind. As I turned up 23rd street, I noticed a man walking to me that 'zero-ed' in on my presence, locking eyes on me. There was no side street to turn down, and I didn't want to turn around, exposing my back to him, so I kept walking. As we neared each other, I tried to walk around a tree quite close to the curb, before I could do so he lunged at me.

He knew what he was doing and how to attack someone. He went first for my eye socket with his thumb and put his other hand in my mouth to stifle my screams and slammed me down to the ground. He was using the hand in my mouth and on my jaw to try and slam my head on the concrete, presumably to knock me out. Once I was down on the ground he straddled me pinning down my arms. After about 15s of struggling just to avoid him knocking me out, I was able to use all my strength to surge up on my right side to unpin that arm. Since I'm a climber, I'm strong, and I don't think he was expecting this and was unprepared for that maneuver. Luckily through this move and some biting, I was also able to get his hand out of my mouth and started screaming - first just yelling and then screaming for help. I struggled with him while screaming and trying to avoid him knocking me out for another 30s until a couple in a house several houses down the street threw open their window and turned on lights. This scared him away.

Amy was able to escape with a bruised eye and scratches/bruising to her face, back, jaw and ribs, but police were unable to find the suspect near the scene on 23rd Street between Guerrero and San Jose Avenue. For now, the assailant remains on the loose and no suspect description has been released. [Update below] A solidarity march has already been organized in the neighborhood for this Friday to protest sexual violence on the city's streets. The march begins at 4 p.m. from the 16th Street BART Station. More details on the march can be found on the event's Facebook page here and the full text of Amy's account was posted publicly on Facebook by KALW's Rose Aguilar.

Update: Mission Local reports the suspect is described as a 5-foot-8 Asian man, approximately 160 pounds. He is between the ages of 20 and 30, with a buzz cut and a slight beard. He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark pants on the night of the incident. Anyone with any information is encouraged to call SFPD at 415-575-4444.

In the Dozier case, the rapist was caught after police connected him to the crime scene with neighborhood security footage and physical evidence. Dozier was convicted of 25 felony counts for the three brutal assaults and sentenced to 373 years to life in prison.