A man named Dominic Henton, accused of sexually assaulting former Sen. Martha McSally while she was jogging along the Missouri River in Iowa, was arrested by the police on Friday.
On Wednesday, McSally posted a video on Facebook after the attack and shared a man came up behind her and engulfed her in a bear hug.
Henton Arrested for Sexual Assault
McSally was running in Council Bluffs, Iowa, when Henton molested and fondled her. She said that she fought him off, chased him down, and said a lot of swear words to him.
She said, "In this moment, I was in a fight, flight or freeze, and I chose to fight. I ran after him, I threw my water bottle after him, and I chased him into the brush, where he was then hiding as I called 911 and waited for the police to come." However, the man fled before the police could arrive at the scene.
Council Bluffs police identified the suspect through surveillance video and other investigative means. The police released two photos of Henton following McSally eastbound over the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge and then southbound onto the trail.
Furthermore, two other images showed him in the area before and after the alleged assault took place.
The authorities arrested and placed him into custody in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday. The authorities concluded that Henton was a fugitive around Iowa.
Henton would be deported to Council Bluffs on a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
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SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 12: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event for U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) on October 12, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona. McSally is looking to gain ground against Democratic Senate candidate and retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who, according to reports, is leading in polling and fundraising.
McSally's Past Sexual Abuse
McSally posted on her Facebook and updated Henton's arrest with prayer hands and flexed biceps emojis. She said she was also at Omaha to speak about courage.
McSally said she was still trying to recover from what happened, and the recent incident tapped into a nerve of other sexual abuse and assault that she had been through in the past.
According to BBC News, she revealed that she had been raped by a superior officer while in the Air Force at an Armed Services Committee Subcommittee hearing on military sexual assault in 2019. Back then, she was the first female fighter pilot to fly a combat mission, and she felt powerless and even blamed herself for the assault.
However, she said she felt like she had regained her power in Wednesday's attack. She said he tried to take control of her, but she turned it on him, and he was running from her instead of the other way around.
Another posted video from McSally's Facebook showed that she was still reflecting on what happened to her in the airport on her way to Chicago. She encouraged anyone going through trauma to process their emotions properly in the video.
She added that if we feel these emotions, then we let them go, then we have the opportunity to heal and fully be free.
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