Police in Salt Lake City are attempting to identify a man who was stabbed by a jogger after he allegedly groped her in the street.

The groping suspect approached the jogger from behind in the attack on Friday at 6am, police said, which happened near Liberty Park in the city.

The jogger turned on the suspect and stabbed him multiple times, before chasing him past a nearby bus stop and down an alleyway, where the attacker got away, KUTV reports.

“A male approached her from behind and attacked her, groped her,” Salt Lake City Police Detective Greg Wilking told the broadcaster.

“Apparently when she runs she carries with her a small knife,” he said. “She was prepared, she took steps to be prepared and then on top of it she fought back.”

The suspect is described as a clean cut white man aged between 15 and 30 and was wearing a grey sweatshirt and a backpack. He is understood to be about 5ft 9in tall and 150 pounds.