MISSION VALLEY San Diego police are investigating the reported sexual assault of a woman found dazed and injured on Camino del Rio North near Ward Road about midday yesterday.
Two motorists stopped to help the woman, who was staggering near her car under an Interstate 15 overpass, police Lt. Vince Villalvazo said. One motorist called 911 at 11:36 a.m. Villalvazo said the attack occurred probably less than 20 minutes earlier.
"We're treating this as a sexual assault," he said.
The 23-year-old woman reported that her attacker approached her with a kitchen knife. He sexually assaulted her and hit her on the head with a bottle, knocking her unconscious.
"She may have been choked with the electric cord from a curling iron she'd had in her vehicle," Villalvazo said. He said investigators found a kitchen knife at the scene.
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries.
Police said it appears the woman parked under the underpass and put on her car hazard lights, thinking there was something wrong with her Honda. By late afternoon, investigators had not yet examined the car to see if there was anything wrong, Villalvazo said.
The woman told officers her attacker was a white man, age 25 to 30, and that he drove either a GMC or Ford F150 full-sized white pickup.
