Alexa Vera NYU softball sophomore breaks her hand fending off male sex attacker while jogging in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood as Iowa transplant reflects on episode that left her frazzled but defiant to beat off un-identified male.
A female NYU student going for a run along Chelsea’s 8th Avenue told of breaking her hand after fending off a would be attacker who she claims grabbed at her breast during an afternoon run last week.
Alexa Vera, 19, of Bettendorf, Iowa was jogging along 20th street near Eighth Ave, along a path that she told the nypost that she’s run almost every day since moving to NYC last year to study at New York University when she was accosted by an unknown male.
@alexa.very part 1 of adventures to help me get comfortable in nyc again #nyc #mets #baseball #nyu #coping #adventure ♬ original sound – alexa.very
‘My fight or flight kicked in!’
‘As I was crossing the street, I noticed him reach out for me, and he grabbed my chest and didn’t let go. My fight or flight kicked in,’ the 5ft’9 woman who is on the NYU softball team told the outlet.
The sophomore first baseman, said she punched the bald, middle-aged attacker twice in the jaw.
He crumpled to the ground, allowing her to get away.
But in the process of her defending herself, the NYU student ended up breaking her hand.
‘All I could think at that moment was that I needed to do anything to stop it from going further. I needed to protect myself,’ she told the nypost.
Adding, ‘I don’t think he was expecting me to punch him.’
Vera said it took a few minutes following the confrontation to realise her right hand was ‘throbbing and her knuckles bleeding.’
The Sept 19 episode has led to her being temporarily sidelined from playing softball.
Very said she called her dad ‘to ask if I did the right thing, because I can’t hold a bat now.
‘And he told me that it was the best reason to not be able to hold the bat or throw a softball for a while.’
An NYU trainer cleaned Very’s battered hand and referred her to an urgent care, where a doctor found two bone bruises and a hairline fracture.
Social media responds to ‘hero’
Very’s hand remains in a splint, and — despite her heroics — she’s struggling emotionally.
‘I find that I’m much more paranoid after what happened,’ Very said, adding she hasn’t been able to sleep through the night since the assault.
Since the episode, Very said she has found refuge on TikTok, where she has been posting videos chronicling the incident and her healing journey.
The post which has been liked more than 8500 times led to an avalanche of support for Very.
Posted one user, ‘girl you are so unbelievably cook and badass, I hope your recovery journey continued to go good.’
Wrote another, ‘Good for you. I am so sorry that person did this to you. I love New York, and you are part of that makes this city so great.’
Reflecting on the episode, Very told the nypost: ‘I never thought something like this would happen to me, but I was wrong. So if I can help one person be more aware that this could happen to them – and that it’s okay to fight back and protect yourself – then it would have been worth it.’
Very, who filed a police report and spoke to detectives from the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit following the attack, is ‘holding out hope’ that police will arrest the assailant.
As of Saturday, no arrests have been made.
An NYPD spokesperson told the nypost that the department takes ‘sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously.’
