FERNDALE - When Samantha Shields pulled into the Whatcom Educational Credit Union at 5695 Barrett Road on the morning of Monday, July 28, she noticed a man sitting on the curb, smoking and watching her, but she didn't think anything of it.

"I figured he was just people watching, waiting for the bank to open," she said.

As she withdrew money from the outdoor ATM, Shields saw a shadow growing on the wall in front of her. She turned to see a man with a box knife coming toward her from behind a pole.

Shields, 24, tried to back away as the man began slashing at her neck with sweeps that stretched from shoulder to shoulder.

"He wasn't just trying to take my money," she said. "I thought he was trying to kill me."

Shields survived with some cuts that needed stitches. After a short manhunt, Joseph R. Smith, 20, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault with sexual motivation.

But for a few moments, Shields wasn't sure she would live through the attack.

She fell to the ground in her attempt to fight off the man, kicking at him to keep the knife away from her throat. Her throat and jaw line were slashed during the struggle, but Shields didn't even notice.

"I didn't feel it at all, I couldn't even tell if he was touching me," she said. "I didn't even realize I was bleeding until (bank employees) were running at me with paper towels."

She said she told the man to take her money and purse, but he simply said "OK" and continued to attack. It was the only word he spoke to her.

A crew working in the bank heard her screams and chased off the attacker, who ran north out of the parking lot without taking anything from her.

Shields was taken into the bank while employees called police. Only then did she notice her clothes were soaked in her own blood. To her, the attack felt like it lasted forever.

"It seemed like such a long time," she said. "I'd be really interested in the security tape, because it was probably only a minute or two, but it felt so long."

She was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where she received one set of stitches for the cut on her jaw and two sets for the 10-inch slash on her throat. Shields estimates she got a total of 50 stitches.

"The attack was so strange, because he wasn't holding me down or grabbing me or anything," she said. "All he wanted to do was cut my throat. He would have killed me if it weren't for the people in the bank."

Police used dogs to track Smith through a nearby field, where he suffered a dog bite when he was found hiding in the brush.

"I was so relieved when they told me they found him," Shields said. "And the dog bite made me feel a little better."

Smith was booked into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of first-degree assault with sexual motivation, based on comments he made to police after his arrest, said Ferndale Police Lt. Matt Huffman.

Smith has a history of arrests and has appeared in court 24 times in the past 11 years, according to a search of Whatcom County courts. Most of the incidents were minor. The last arrest was in December on suspicion that he was hiding in clothes racks in the Bellingham TJ Maxx and Ross and grabbing women, according to court records.

Smith's family could not be reached for comment.

The attack won't scare Shields away from walking outside or being alone, but it has made her think twice about banking.

"Honestly, I can tell you that I will not use another ATM like that," Shields said. "I'll go into the bank. Spending five minutes writing a check doesn't seem so bad now."

Reach Katie Regan at 715-2220 or katie.regan@bellinghamherald.com.