Girl, 17, fights off attacker

Police say teen defended self in alleged assault

A teenage girl confronted by a man who tried to force his hand down her pants as she walked along a busy Sunrise road on Christmas Eve kneed him in the groin and escaped, she told investigators.

It was after sunset Saturday when a man called to the girl, 17, “Hey cutie, wanna come to my place?” and invited her to “drink and smoke some weed,” a Sunrise police report said.

The girl tried to ignore the man, later identified as Tomas Samuel Estrella, and crossed a street near the 4200 block of North Pine Island Road. The neighborhood is north of West Oakland Park Boulevard.

But she was grabbed by the back of her neck and spun around to face Estrella, who dug his nails into her neck, she told police.

When she tried to push away, he struck her face, lifted her shirt and forced his hand down the front of her pants, according to a police report.

The girl, who was not identified by police, told investigators she screamed for the man to stop, struck his face and could not get him to let go until she kneed him in the groin, the report states. She followed that with a punch to his crotch, then ran to a friend’s home, police said.

Police photographed scratch marks and abrasions on the girl’s neck, face, stomach and hip, the police report said.

Estrella, 29, of Sunrise, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of committing sexual

Estrella