LAKE MARY, Fla. — A man is being held in the Seminole County jail after investigators said he attacked a 67-year-old woman in a Lake Mary dog park.
Raja Bangaru faced a judge Thursday, who denied him bond.
The victim said Bangaru attacked her while she was walking her dog near the Colonial Grande Apartment Complex on International Parkway about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The woman told police maintenance workers came to her rescue when they heard her screams.
“We’ve got a female out here covered in blood,” said the 911 dispatcher after the woman called for help. “She is confirming that he did try to rape her.”
911 Call: Woman attacked in Lake Mary
Nearby resident Pam Noles said the dog park is one of the last places she’d expect to hear of a violent crime.
Noles said she walks her dog there often and has never felt threatened.
“I’ve been out here all hours and I’ve never seen anybody that I guess you would call strange,” Noles said.
Police said the victim and Bangaru had a brief interaction at the park before, when Bangaru would say hello to her.
According to reports, he approached her Wednesday, and she told him to stop getting so close.
She tried to move closer to the street but before she could, she said Bangaru pushed her to the ground.
The victim told the 911 dispatcher that she gouged at his eyes to get him off of her.
Police said Bangaru tried to run off, but maintenance workers heard her screams, saw him running and surrounded him until police arrived.
Police said he had a very interesting reaction when he was caught that to them seemed to show remorse.
WFTV
