By Joe Johnson
A woman reportedly was assaulted by a mugger Thursday as she was walking to the county bus station on Willow Street near downtown Athens.
The 21-year-old Hoyt Street resident said she was walking on Hickory Street, toward the station at about 8 p.m. when a man rode up on a bicycle and grabbed her backpack, according to a police report.
The woman resisted and they fell to the ground, fighting for the item, and the man reportedly dumped out the backpack’s contents and rummaged through them.
When the victim threw a shoe at the man he began to leave with the backpack towards Willow Street.
The woman reengaged the suspect by throwing her other shoe, and he grabbed a blunt object from his bike, repeatedly striking the woman’s head with it, according to the police report.
The suspect rode away toward Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
The victim described the suspect to police as a chubby dark skin black male in his late 20’s with long hair “or inconsistent dreads,” who wore black pants and hoodie. His bicycle was said to be burgundy in color.