A Wisconsin man is behind bars after a woman escaped a brutal attack that could have been much worse, authorities say.

Ismael Hernandez-Padilla, aged 39, faces charges including strangulation and suffocation, battery, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping, as reported by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, an immigration hold was placed on him on his arrest day.

The incident was reported to have happened shortly after 11 p.m. on Sunday, near a gas station on Packers Avenue, according to an incident report from the Madison Police Department.

According to a criminal complaint accessed by Madison-based CBS and MyNetworkTV affiliate WISC, the victim stated she was heading to the gas station from her apartment and was passing through an empty lot when a man lunged out from the bushes, seizing her jacket from behind.

Then, the woman said, the man pulled her backward into the bushes.

The complaint outlines that the attacker began by hitting her in the face. Shortly thereafter, the victim found herself on the ground. The assailant allegedly mounted her and continued his assault, eventually choking her to the extent that she struggled to breathe.

The victim’s statement to police indicates uncertainty about being conscious throughout the episode. Though she feared possible sexual assault, the attacker did not engage in any such actions, as noted in the complaint.

In a bid to endure the attack, she pretended to be unresponsive by closing her eyes and remaining still. After maintaining this facade for some time, the attacker reportedly stood up and kicked her legs to check if she was truly motionless, as she later recounted to police.

Then, she said, the attacker walked off.

And so did she.

“Police spotted the injured woman while walking to the police station to report the attack,” the police department wrote in the report.

Investigators said the woman had redness and swelling around her right eye, her nose was cut and bleeding, and red marks spanned her neck and upper chest, according to the complaint.

The woman, identified as 57 years old, later rode around the area with officers and identified Hernandez-Padilla as the man responsible.

During his arrest, the defendant allegedly admitted to hurting the woman but said he did so in response to her stealing a $100 bill from him. The woman, in turn, denied stealing any money from Hernandez-Padilla – and said the man never spoke to her before the attack.

Police did not find any $100 bills on the woman, according to the complaint. Officers did, however, find what she identified as some of her belongings at the scene of the crime – including glasses and a lighter.

Hernandez-Padilla made an initial appearance in court on Tuesday. He is next slated to appear in court on Sept. 23 for a preliminary hearing. The defendant is currently being detained in the Dane County Jail on $7,500 bond – though that may be moot due to his immigration hold.

The defendant was previously charged with three misdemeanor counts in a May 2024 case, court records show. In that earlier case, Hernandez-Padilla stands accused of one count of lewd or lascivious behavior by exposure and two counts of sexual assault in the fourth degree.