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Woman Brutally Attacked In Charlestown Halloween Night

BOSTON (CBS) – A Boston neighborhood is shaken after a 26-year-old woman was brutally assaulted as she walked home Halloween night.

Police say the woman felt a strong blow from behind as she walked on Lawrence Street in Charlestown after leaving an all-night convenience store. It caused her to fall to the ground and black out. Friends of the woman, a former model, say she was dragged across the grass, her sweater torn from her, though police say she was not sexually assaulted.

"It couldn't have happened to a better girl," said one friend who did want to be identified. "I went out alone last night, probably around eleven o'clock, and I brought a big butcher knife with me."

The blow was enough, say friends, to slam her face to the ground and lose several teeth. It's an area near the historic Phipps Street Burying Ground where residents say this kind of violence is not the norm. "This is a little out of sorts, especially for this area," said John Upton who lives nearby.

Police say the woman blacked out again when she managed to get herself home. Her sweater was found on a sidewalk across the street from the cemetery. "This is a serious matter," said another neighbor. "Whoever it is I hope they're caught."

Friends say it's the image of their friend dragging herself several blocks home that is difficult to bear. "To go home dazed and confused is really scary. We're really, really glad she's alive."

Police say they met the victim at Massachusetts General Hospital where she was being treated for injuries to her face, mouth and arm.

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