ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- Police have charged a man who allegedly attacked an 11-year-old girl earlier this year with a sexual assault that happened more than a year ago in Alpharetta.
On Friday, Alpharetta police said Danzell Mitchell, 26, has been charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and sexual battery.
The Alpharetta attack happened on May 16, 2017, when a woman told police she was attacked behind the horse stables at the Wills Park equestrian center. The victim, who was pregnant at the time, was pushing her infant child in a stroller along the paved path near the horse stables when she was grabbed from behind. Her attacker, she told police, put against her stomach and ordered to leave her child behind while she was forced behind a stable.
While escaping her attacker’s grasp, the suspect pepper sprayed her in the face and cut her arm with his knife. The victim struggled free, and screamed for help as the suspect fled the area. Another person, who heard the screams, went to her and waited until police arrived.
Police said Friday they received a tip in May 2018 that led to Mitchell being charged in the case.
Mitchell was arrested by Cobb police also this past May and charged in the attempted kidnapping and aggravated assault of an 11-year-old girl.
Police said the girl's father walked her to the bathroom and was waiting outside the facility's while she went in.
The girl told police she did not see anyone in the bathroom when she entered, but when she came out of the stall, the door to a stall in front of her opened. She told police a black man, later identified as Mitchell, came out of it, grabbed her and put a knife to her throat.
Police said the child screamed and was able to get away and ran to her father.
The 11-year-old was able to point out the man as he emerged from the woman's restroom, where shoppers jumped in to restrain him until mall security arrived.
