Man jailed after woman attacked on beach path

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND — A man walked up to a woman and asked about the tide before attacking her on a beach access trail near Station 16 Thursday evening, a police report says.

The woman had answered the man's question and continued walking toward her car, police said. Then he ran up behind her and tried to drag her into the woods. He hit her face and neck with his hands and a blunt object later identified as a slap jack.

The attack on the woman in her early 20s startled the normally tranquil beach community. Authorities have said a man riding his bicycle interrupted the assault and may have saved the woman's life.

After finding the woman bleeding from scratches on her face and legs around 5:40 p.m., Sullivan's Island police responded to a second attack nearby.

Patrick Mohr Sanders, 34, of Hanahan told police he was assaulted by a man he did not know who took his shirt, shorts and running shoes, the report states.

Police did not believe Sanders' story and think he faked the attack, the report states. A witness identified him as the man who assaulted the woman.

He was arrested on charges of high and aggravated assault and battery and kidnapping. He remained at the Charleston County jail Monday on $350,000 bail.