Fort Worth woman on a mission for safety after 2017 brutal trail attack

Out of a brutal attack, there comes some positive change in Tarrant County.

The genesis of Safe + Happy Trails came in 2017.

Jesca Arnold while she was on one of her routine walks at Trinity River Trails on a September weekend.

“There was some crazy guy riding his bike around naked and decided I looked like an easy target because I was by myself," she said.

When he approached her, she did what she had been taught: call 911.

"And I was like, ‘Leave me alone, I’m calling 911’ and when I said that, he got really mad and lunged at me, took my phone and threw it in the river, and proceeded to attack me," she said.

She recalled hearing a 911 operator answer, but she never got the chance to tell them where exactly she was, and it wasn't long enough for the operator to ping her location.

“I know I was either... strangled until I passed out, and I’d wake up and be bashed in the face until I was knocked out. And that happened, like, multiple times. Each time I’d wake up I’d be in a different place, like down the trail," Jesca said.

She was raped and beaten. She said the last time she came into consciousness, she talked to her attacker.

"All I remember saying is like, ‘Why? Why are you doing this?' And then he finally stopped. And I didn’t know at the time someone had seen me and was coming. And he was like, ‘I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream.’ And I said ‘Okay, I won’t scream,’ and I grabbed my shoe and I ran," she said.

She ran to a nearby neighborhood, pounding doors to get someone to answer.

Finally, she jumped in front of a car.

"I probably scared this poor old couple because I know I looked terrifying, by then I was turning purple and swollen," she said.

She collapsed in a driveway as more people came out, calling 911 for her.

A neighbor called Jesca's dad, Don.

“She said, ‘I have Jesca here. She’s okay, but I just want to prepare you, you know, because it’s really bad. It looks like her eye socket might be broken and she’s, she’s really bad," Don recalls, still barely able to make out the story between tears.

“We really had no idea how dark and lonely the next four years would be," he added.

Shortly after the attack, Don had an idea to start a nonprofit with his daughter to help make trails safer.

“I just always sensed that God had some purpose in it, you know?” Don said. "It seemed like, this is achievable, you know? The community can come together and make some place that’s public land safe for families."

Jesca initially wrote the idea off. It wasn't until another woman was attacked four years later that she became a trailblazer for trail safety.

“She got away but still, it got me so mad. When someone told me, I cried all the way home because I was so… this wasn’t supposed to happen again," Jesca said.

She asked her dad if he still wanted to start a nonprofit, and Safe + Happy Trails was born.

The goal is to create a safety loop, where a system of cameras and other equipment can provide more security on at least part of Tarrant County's 100+ miles of hiking trails.

Last week, the nonprofit donated two smart poles to the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD).

The poles were a total of about $35,000, and are supposed to be connected to Fort Worth Police's real-time data center.

They're equipped with an emergency call button and two cameras-- one a wide angle, the other that can pan, tilt, and zoom, controlled by the police department's center.

Don explained that the poles also have gunshot detection systems.

"That gunshot detection is the technology that is now being utilized to detect screams," he said.

At their last meeting, the TRWD accepted the donation and explained that they're working with police to test the technology and make sure it's compatible with their system.

The Arnolds hope that testing will take about five months, and more poles will be added to the system.

They say they're looking for businesses who might want to pay for and sponsor poles, and their GoFundMe is still open for anyone else who'd like to contribute.

Don said if anyone wants to volunteer their time, they also look forward to that help, as they try to get governmental groups moving on the initiative.

“I want it done yesterday," Jesca said as she laughed. "But you know, it’ll get there.”

Jesca still suffers from that attack nearly seven years ago, like damage to her nervous system.

“You have PTSD and anxiety and stuff like that, but it’s more a lot of physical pain like it was a lot of permanent damage to my spine and my head. I have migraines all the time, I always have neck pain," she said.

But she and her dad say their path and, hopefully, the community's, has taken a much more positive turn.

“You don’t trust your body anymore, you don’t trust yourself, you don’t know what you can trust or where you can go, so having something bigger like that [smart pole system] makes you feel like you can relax a little bit, and you want everyone to feel that way," Jesca said.