By David Eck
Enquirer contributor

INDIAN HILL - A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in the Sunday evening stabbing of a 13-year-old girl as she jogged along Given Road in this exclusive Hamilton County suburb.

The girl was dragged off the street, stabbed four times and slashed across the face. She is being treated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Her injuries are not life-threatening, Indian Hill Police Lt. Chuck Schlie said.

The 17-year-old was charged with juvenile counts of attempted aggravated murder and kidnapping, police said. Authorities are pushing to have him tried as an adult because of the seriousness of the attack, Schlie said.

Both teens are Indian Hill residents. The boy's father, reached at home Monday, declined to comment.

The girl was jogging along Given near Pipewell Lane about 6:15 p.m. Sunday when the boy walked toward her from the opposite direction, grabbed her and dragged her into woods, then stabbed her three times in the neck and once in the side, and slashed her face, Schlie said.

"They were serious wounds," he said. "Her father was riding behind her on a bicycle. He could not see her."

There were no witnesses, police said.

The girl yelled for her father and was able to walk out of the woods. She never lost consciousness, remained calm and was able to give police a good description of her attacker, whom she recognized as a boy who rode her school bus several years ago. She is a student in Indian Hill schools; the boy attends a vocational school.

The boy was found in the area a short time later.

Police don't know the motive for the attack.

"The only statement he gave to us was he was just in a fit of rage," Schlie said. "There was no contact between them. There's no contact with the families."

Detectives spent much of Monday searching deep into the woods near Given Road for the weapon used in the attack and other evidence. In this spot, Given Road winds through woods and million-dollar estates on multi-acre lots. Bicyclists, horseback riders and joggers are common sights in Indian Hill.

Dwight Ward of Symmes Township was driving along Given moments after the attack. He stopped and the girl's father asked him to call 911.

"He was really upset. He said she was bleeding real bad," Ward said. "Normally, I see people jogging or riding their bikes along that road. You don't think anything like that's going to happen, then it surprises you when it does. Any area can be touched (by violence) these days."

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E-mail daveck@fuse.net