(NewsNation) — A suspect was arrested Friday after former Arizona Sen. Martha McSally said she was sexually assaulted while on a run by the Missouri River in Iowa last week.
McSally shared the experience in an Instagram post, saying, “A man came up behind me, and he engulfed me in a bear hug, and he molested and fondled me until I fought him off,” she continued, describing the event. “I then chased him down. I said a lot of swear words.”
Iowa police identified the suspect as Dominic Henton, a 25-year-old from Nebraska. He was charged with one count of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
McSally joined “NewsNation Prime” to share her story, saying she sprung into action after she was attacked.
“I threw my water bottle at him and I just started chasing him, not necessarily the smartest thing to do, but it’s fight, flight or freeze. I just chose to fight and I just kept screaming at him with a lot of profanities, you’re not going to ever get away with this,” McSally said.
“It was a reaction. It wasn’t a decision. It just was something ignited inside of me. I’m a former survivor of previous sexual abuse and sexual assault, and back then I didn’t speak up, I didn’t take my power back and heal until many years later,”
The former senator has openly discussed her previous experience of being assaulted by a superior in the Air Force.
“I know it’s tapped into a nerve of other sexual abuse and assault that I’ve been through in the past, which I’ve healed from as much as I feel can be done,” she said. “But in this case, I felt like I took my power back.”
Describing what inspired the strength to fight back against her attacker, McSally said it was something she screamed into existence.
“It wasn’t the physical strength. I was just like “No, not today. Not me again. Not in this place. Not on my watch. It’s not going to happen,” McSally said. “I spoke it into existence, screamed it, that he was going to be caught and thank God he was.”