According to police, the woman told officers she was walking on the trail around 6 p.m. when a man passed her, turned around and started walking behind her.

The man followed her for approximately a quarter mile before he jumped on her from behind and knocked her to the ground, she said. The two struggled on the ground until a passing bicyclist scared the suspect away.

Police Chief Jose L. Lopez said the victim declined medical assistance. The attack “might have been sexually motivated” and is under investigation by the department’s special victims unit, he said.

“This is an unfortunate incident,” he said.

The suspect was described as black, 25 to 35 years old, 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 2 inches tall with a stocky build. He was wearing all black clothing; police could not provide additional descriptive details such as estimated weight, complexion or hair style.

The assault occurred near Apex and Fargo streets, on a section of the trail that separates the Southside and Forest Hills neighborhoods.

According to an email Forest Hills Neighborhood Association President Norris Cotton sent to the Forest Hills email list and city officials Thursday morning, around 6:20 p.m. a family walking near a trail access point heard screams and found a young woman “who appeared to have been the victim of an assault of some type.”

Several other individuals had already come to the woman’s aid, Cotton wrote.

Anticipating public response, City Manager Tom Bonfield sent City Council members a memo describing measures the city has taken to make the trail safer.

They include increased police patrols and three utility-terrain vehicles bought and put to trail-patrol use. City Councilman Steve Schewel led group runs on that section four Tuesday evenings in a row, as a “take back the trail” gesture. Wednesday’s incident came one day after his final run.

Police and other city department are investigating feasibility of installing surveillance cameras on the trail, Lopez said.

Before the latest assault, there had been four simple assaults, one sex offense and two robberies reported on the trail since May 14, most recently an assault Aug. 21. All occurred on the section from downtown just past Fayetteville Street. Police have made three arrests in connection with the earlier attacks.

Lopez said he did not think the latest attack is related to the others, most of which were reported to have involved groups of youths.

Anyone with information on Wednesday’s assault is asked to call police at 919- 60-4440, ext. 29318 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200.