MASCOTTE, Fla. — A terrified 6-year-old girl who ran to a neighbor's home for help Monday morning may have saved her mother from a sexual assault, police said. "We think she did something pretty heroic," Mascotte police Lt. Michael Warchol said of the child, whom he did not identify. While her mother fought with a man who burst into their home about 6 a.m., the child sprinted to get help from a neighbor, a Lake County deputy sheriff. The man then abandoned the assault and ran off, Warchol said. Police searched in vain for him, using a police dog and a helicopter to scour the Courtney Park subdivision where the incident occurred as dawn was breaking. The mother was making breakfast when she heard a knock at the door and opened it a crack for a peek. Warchol said the man, identified as a black male about 5-feet-6 with a stocky build, pushed into the home, knocked the mother to the ground and tried to pull off her pants. The mother grappled with him, grabbing the intruder's neck and yelling for her daughter to run. "I think she was more in fear for her daughter than herself," Warchol said of the mother, whose other child, an 18-month-old baby, was asleep at the time. The deputy ran to the mother's aid while his spouse comforted the 6-year-old and called 911. Police said neither the sheriff's dog nor helicopter could locate the man, who dropped a baseball-style cap bearing images of Ben Franklin and $100 bills. Warchol said the mother was shaken but "holding up surprisingly well." She helped authorities draft a sketch of the suspect. Warchol said the pre-dawn attack was unusual not only for Mascotte but also the relatively quiet neighborhood. Police urged anyone with information about the attack to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477 or Mascotte police at 352-429-3393. Warchol said authorities may ask the Mascotte City Council to honor the child's heroism at a future meeting.
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