Woman Groped In Latest Schuylkill River Trail Incident

A woman was groped by a teenage boy on the Schuylkill River Trail in Philadelphia on Sunday, the latest in a series of recent incidents on the trail targeting women.

The 29-year-old woman was walking along the trail on Sunday at about 3 p.m. with her boyfriend when four teenagers rode up to the pair on bicycles, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

The boys began to harass the woman, before one of them groped her, police said, before fleeing the scene.

The suspect is believed to be 13-years-old. He was wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt, according to police.

Several similar incidents have occurred on the trail in the past weeks and have been reported to the authorities.

The reports are of a boy on a bicycle, between 13 and 16 years old, groping women on the trail between Walnut and Locust Streets in Center City, according to CBS 3.

Those incidents occurred on October 21 and October 29, the report states.

In September, trail users were concerned after a woman called police to report an assault and the operator didn’t know what the Scuylkill River Trail was.

Police said they are actively investigating the latest reports. It’s not known if they are connected to the recent assaults, but the circumstances are similar.

While these types of assaults have only been reported along the Philadelphia portion of the trail, security concerns for users of the trail are nothing new.

In Phoenixville, residents cited security along the trail as a top priority for the borough.

“(There needs to be) some way to make the trail not a scary place to want to walk or run,” said Marissa DiCindio. “Going back there alone with only a large field on one side and a bank down to the water on the other, coupled with scary people that “hang out” back there makes it completely uninviting.”

DiCindio recommended cameras or emergency phones be installed along the trail to give walkers and joggers a sense of peace of mind.

She’s not the only one who has brought up issues of trail safety.

Robin Carroll Ambroziak specifically noted “crime on the trail” as the one thing she would change about Phoenixville.

The Phoenixville Police Department cited three cases of males either drinking alcohol or selling it to minors on the trail, which could be seen as a sign that parts of the trail are a haven for less than legal activities.

The Schuylkill River Trail stretches through the heart of Montgomery County, and runs through Manayunk, Conshohocken, Norristown, Phoenixville, Spring City, and Pottstown, among others.

Earlier in the summer, the trail was named the best Urban Trail in America.