Police in Florida hope to identify hotel clerk’s attacker

DAVIE, Fla. – Police in South Florida are searching for a man they say attacked an overnight hotel clerk, choking her around the neck before a hotel guest scared him away.

The Dec. 22 attack at the Woodspring Suites in Davie was captured on surveillance video . It shows the hoodie-clad man jumping over the front desk and grabbing the clerk, covering her mouth with one hand, while holding a gun in the other. They struggled for more than five minutes.

Davie police Sgt. Mark Leone says he demanded that she open the safe, but she didn’t have a combination, so he tried for the cash register. A guest then walked by and apparently scared the man, who can be seen hopping back over the desk and leaving with a push from the clerk.