Salem Street assault spurs warning

A brazen assault of a North end woman in the early morning Saturday on Salem Street has prompted Boston Police to issue a warning for women to be careful after dark.

The assault Saturday at 3:30 a.m. was described by police as an assault and battery on a Salem Street resident.

Police withheld the resident’s name in order to protect her privacy.

However, the woman told police she was sitting on the front steps of her building on Salem Street when a man approached her and asked her for a light for his cigarette.

The woman told police she spoke briefly with the man, whom she described as Hispanic in his mid-20, about 5-foot-ten with a medium build, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

When she turned to leave, she told police she was restrained by the man.

“He put a choke-hold on me,” she told police.

Then she began to scream and struggled briefly with her assailant who let go of her and then ran into the darkness of the early morning.

Police did not connect this assault with a string of assaults on North End residents that have taken place in different locations in the North End during the past two years.

Instead, police once again reminded women to remain vigilant during the evening hours for their own safety.

An investigation in to this most recent assault is ongoing by the Boston Police.