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A 31-year-old Seattle man with a history of sexual assaults on women was charged today with second-degree rape after police say he grabbed a 22-year-old woman by the throat and sexually assaulted her in the Northgate neighborhood.

William Bol Akol, who was found by Seattle police hiding in some bushes after his alleged victim managed to escape and seek help, is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 9.

Late Friday, the woman was walking from a bus stop on Northeast Northgate Way to a friend’s house when she passed Akol, who allegedly grabbed her throat, threw her into the bushes and jumped on top of her, punching and choking her as she resisted, charging papers say. After she was sexually assaulted, the woman was able to break free and run across the street to a gas station, where a customer helped her inside to call 911, the papers say.

Responding officers found Akol hiding in the 11100 block of Northeast Northgate Way, where they also found the alleged victim’s purse, shoes, sweater and cell phone, charging papers say. The woman, who identified Akol as her attacker, was treated at Harborview Medical Center.

In 2009, Akol was convicted of third-degree assault for grabbing the breast of a female Metro bus driver, charging papers say. In 2008, he was convicted of fourth-degree assault after he followed a 19-year-old woman off a bus, demanded sex and repeatedly punched her in the face when she refused, an assault that was witnessed by a Seattle police officer, the papers say.

A month before that assault, Akol put his hand between the legs of a 21-year-old woman on a downtown street; the woman contacted officers but did not pursue criminal charges, the papers say.