Madison Residents Plan Rally After Bike Path Attack

Police in Madison are still searching for a man who brutally attacked a woman on a city bike path shortly after midnight on Saturday. Local residents concerned about safety on the path plan to march Thursday night near the site of the assault.

The attack was the second this summer on a stretch of bike path on the city’s east side just a few blocks from the state Capitol. Lynn Lee, of the local neighborhood association, said speakers at Thursday’s event would call on the city to improve lighting on the path to prevent such attacks.

“The bike path was not lit. The overhead lighting had been turned off at 12:30 except for one light and that’s not past bar time,” he said. “Ideally we’d like to see the lights left on all night long.”

Lee said brush and trees along the path where the attacker hid need to be cleared. Organizers of the march will be taking donations for the victim who was hospitalized after the attack.