Nebraska man arrested in connection to attack on former Arizona Sen. Martha McSally

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE & online.rainn.org). 

A Nebraska man who worked at a security company was arrested Friday on charges he attempted to sexually assault former Sen. Martha McSally while she was running in the Omaha area earlier this week.

Hours after police in neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa, issued a warrant in the case, police in Omaha found a 25-year-old man whom authorities characterized as “transient.”

Dominic M. Hinton of Papillion, Neb., is charged with assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. He remained in custody on Friday, said Sgt. John Focht.

“It looks to me like he’s a transient right now,” Focht said. “I don’t know what has happened in his life, but he worked at a security company. It sounds like he’s gone kind of downhill because he was living in a shelter” by Omaha Eppley Airfield.

Police released photos of a man following McSally, R-Ariz., as she walked over a pedestrian bridge at Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park and onto a trail along the Missouri River. They also released another picture of him after the alleged attack.

Police reports note that Hinton was identified as a customer at a restaurant near the park in recent days.

McSally, who has publicly discussed being a survivor of at least two prior sexual assaults before politics, brought unusual prominence to the case when she took to Instagram shortly afterward.

She told her followers she battled a man who had put her in a bear hug and groped her on the trail. She managed to free herself and opted to pursue him as he fled.

“A man came up behind me and he engulfed me in a bear hug, and he molested and fondled me until I fought him off,” she said. “I then chased him down. I said a lot of swear words in this moment. I was in a fight, flight or freeze, and I chose to fight."

McSally was scheduled to talk to a Nebraska group later that day about “courage and heart, and how to be a brave heart. And I just had it put to the test.”

McSally described chasing after the suspect and throwing a water bottle at him before calling 911.

“I’m OK. … It could have been much worse. I still have a lot to process and I will do that in time.”

McSally said she will process the incident in a healthy way, as she tells others to do as well.

“I know it’s tapped into a nerve of other sexual abuse and assault that I’ve been through in the past, which I’ve healed from, as much as I feel can be done,” she said.

“But in this case, I felt like I took my power back. He tried to take power from me, but I turned it on him and he was running from me instead of the other way around. Not giving anyone advice on how to respond in situations like this. It could have been much worse. … But I’m safe and I’m glad that I did that.”

Survivor: Former Sen. Martha McSally describes sexual assault near Omaha, Neb.

Discussing personal pain in an unusually public forum is nothing new for McSally, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives for a Tucson-area seat and two years in the Senate.

In 2019, McSally, a former Air Force combat pilot, said in a congressional hearing that she was raped by a superior officer when she was in the service.

“Like so many women and men, I didn’t trust the system at the time. I blamed myself. I was ashamed and confused. I thought I was strong but felt powerless. The perpetrators abused their position of power in profound ways,” McSally said then.

“I stayed silent for many years, but later in my career, as the military grappled with the scandals, and their wholly inadequate responses, I felt the need to let some people know I, too, was a survivor. I was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences was handled. I almost separated from the Air Force at 18 years of service over my despair. Like many victims, I felt like the system was raping me all over again.”

Her words sparked an agency review of sexual abuse but also left some victims’ advocates frustrated that McSally didn’t identify her assailant to press her case more forcefully.

In 2018, McSally said she had been sexually abused in high school.

In 2018, McSally was appointed to the Senate to replace the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., after she lost a separate race that year against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. She lost her 2020 election bid to keep that seat to Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and has been out of politics since.

She identifies herself as an executive coach who serves on corporate boards.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dominic M. Hinton charged in attack on former Sen. Martha McSally