White Rock Lake has become a favored hunting ground for knife-wielding bandits. At the end of March, one made off with a cell phone and bicycle from kids walking along the path cutting through the park below the dam. Two weeks later, at almost the same spot, a young couple was confronted by a man with a butcher knife.
Those robbers (or, perhaps, that robber) were lucky not to have run into Leah Peisner. The 25-year-old -- who appears to be a UNT grad, artist and animatronic dinosaur creator -- was walking along the southwestern edge of the lake when she felt a tug on her hair from behind.
See also A Young Couple Was Robbed at Knifepoint While Walking Beside White Rock Lake
Turning, she came face-to-face with a stranger. She told police he was black, about her age, dressed in a black tank top and black running pants, and holding a knife with a six-inch blade.
We'll probably never know what the man had planned; Peisner never gave him a chance to make his intentions clear. According to what she told police, she immediately reared back and punched him in the face as hard as she could. Then she did it again. And again. When she was done punching, she let out a scream.
The man, face and ego bruised, turned and took off running down the path to the south. He was gone by the time police arrived. Peisner was unharmed.
