Police now have a suspect in an early morning sex attack in Stevens Square Park last fall, according to court documents filed this week seeking to check the man's DNA.

The man was identified through a more recent case in Richfield, according to Minneapolis police Sgt. Linda Riemenschneider, though details of that case were not provided in court papers.

The attack on Nov. 19 began when a stranger ran up behind a 26-year-old woman as she walked home at 4 a.m. from a nearby friend's house. The assailant struck her in the head with an object she later described as metallic. She threw her purse at the man but he dragged her into a darkened section of the park.

The assault stopped when someone slammed a car door nearby and the woman broke away from her attacker, screaming for help.

Investigators collected DNA evidence from the attack, and that evidence recently matched DNA evidence taken from a Richfield case. A palm print at the Richfield scene matched that of someone known to authorities, according to Riemenschneider.

Matt McKinney