A man pulled a female jogger off the northeast Morgan Hill street early this morning and sexually assaulted her while holding a sharp object to her throat, police said.
The woman was jogging south on Mission View Road near Half Road just before daylight when an unknown man approached her from behind, Morgan Hill Cmdr. Joe Sampson said. The attacker grabbed the woman, pulled her into an orchard on the east side of Mission View Road and sexually assaulted her, Sampson said. Police also think the man held a sharp instrument - possibly a knife or scissors - to the woman's throat during the assault.
After the assault, the attacker let the woman go and he ran away in an unknown direction. The victim ran back the direction she came from until she arrived at a construction site near Cochrane and Mission View roads. There, she asked the workers to call 911, and they did so at 6:50 a.m., Sampson said.
Police have only a vague description of the attacker, who is between 5 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches. He weighed about 130 to 150 pounds, spoke English with a slight, possibly Spanish accent, and was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark baggy pants, police said.
Despite having few details, the police are treating the case as a top priority.
"We're putting all our resources trying to get this suspect off the street," Sampson said.
The woman, who lived in the area, frequently jogged that route at that time, police said. Police took the woman, who is in her mid-30s, to a nearby medical clinic to perform tests and collect evidence.
The last report of a stranger in Morgan Hill was more than a year ago, and that report was not substantiated, Sampson said.
People with information about the incident can call the Morgan Hill Police Department at 799-2101.
An update to this story was posted Tuesday at 5 p.m., titled, "Police search for sexual assault suspect"
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