CRIME Woman, 40, repels intruder, leaves her mark

The young grandmother has a warning for others: Be alert.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Tacoma Avenue woman painting her front-door trim and talking on a portable phone escaped harm after tussling with an intruder.
The 40-year-old nurse assistant held up her right hand to show four sore and bloody fingers that, until two days ago, had very long nails. She broke the nails as she fought with the man who forced his way through her barely open door.
She asked The Vindicator to withhold her name from the story.
"When he tried to fondle my crotch, I got p-----," she said, anger in her voice. "I wasn't going to let him do whatever he thought he was going to do."
She believes she scratched his face during their struggle. She hopes so -- it will make it easier for police to find him.
"I had to have scratched his face -- I grabbed his head and tried to break his neck," the feisty grandmother said as she re-enacted the struggle. "If I could have grabbed the hammer, it was right on the landing, I would have hit him with it."
Investigation
Lt. Rod Foley, police department spokesman, said that no arrest had been made as of Wednesday. The case is assigned to Detective Sgt. Carl Davis, who could not be reached.
The Tacoma woman said what happened to her can serve as a warning to others: Be alert.
"I'll be more cautious from now on, although I was just minding my own business painting," she said. "My granddaughter said, 'Nana, what happened,' but I didn't tell her everything. She was scared, at first, but then asked one of the police officers who came in the house if he wanted to color with her."
The 5-year-old girl had been on the third floor watching TV when the intruder forced his way in. She later recalled hearing thumping sounds.
The attack happened around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the North Side street not usually associated with trouble. The older single-family homes sit on lots that slope toward Logan Avenue.
The petite grandmother said she had the portable phone on her shoulder, talking to a friend in Warren, as she painted the front-door trim a deep maroon. She had the door propped open a bit with her foot and had a lamp behind her on the staircase.
She saw the intruder, a 5-foot-10-inch black man, likely in his late 20s, with a scraggly beard, black puffy coat and black knit cap, on the porch.
"I went to shove the door closed and next thing I know, I couldn't shut it. The deadbolt was out," she said. "He pushed in and tried to hit me, the lamp got knocked over, the ladder fell and we tussled and kept fighting in the dark except for the kitchen light."
The phone dropped but luckily her friend in Warren heard her say to the intruder, "What do you want?" and called police. "I kept hollering my friend's name, hoping the phone was still on," she said.
The Tacoma woman described the intruder as high on drugs. His eyes were very wide open and he didn't say a word, she said.
The two struggled by the door, both getting maroon paint on their clothing, and he tried to fondle her. She grabbed the man's coat in an effort to push him out the door but he turned around and they fought some more.
Running for help
That's when the idea hit her to run out for help, rather than risk the chance of being pushed farther into her house. She feared for her granddaughter upstairs, but knew she had to get out.
She struggled free and ran to the elderly couple who lives next door to call 911. She stayed on the line until she saw cruisers' flashing lights.
Patrolmen Randall Miller, Michael Cox, Carlo Eggleston and Carlos River arrived within two minutes of the 911 call. Two officers searched outside, and two searched in the house and brought the 5-year-old downstairs.
The officers saw footprints, probably made by work boots, in the snow heading east, toward Logan Avenue. They checked vacant houses along the way but didn't find the man.