By BEN LUNDIN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A LaPlace woman narrowly escaped rape Monday by dialing 911 and throwing her phone in the hallway to alert a police dispatcher of her muffled cries of distress, the St. John Sheriff’s Office reports.

Police reportedly arrived just in time to prevent the rape, as the man let up from the woman the moment he heard them knock on the door.

Marquette Chambers, a 29 year-old Kenner man, allegedly came to the woman’s house in LaPlace to bring her daughter to school, but the girl had already left on the bus.

Chambers asked her if she could use the bathroom, to which she agreed and let him inside.

As he walked out of the bathroom he reportedly grabbed her and took off some of her clothes, then carried her into the bedroom as she struggled to escape his grasp.

During the struggle she claims she dialed 911 and threw her phone into the hallway in hopes someone would hear her.

A police dispatcher heard her distress and radioed officers to report to the residence.

Three officers from the St. John Sheriff’s Office approached the residence and knocked on the door, but no one responded. They walked around the house to the bedroom and heard the female’s voice, then knocked on the window and told the man inside to come out.

As Chambers opened the door, the woman followed him out and yelled at him to leave the house. He tried to flee the scene but officers detained him immediately and booked him with attempted forcible rape, according to the St. John Sheriff’s Office.