Bikini barista speaks out after horror 'attempted rape'

A bikini barista has told of her horror ordeal at the hands of an alleged attempted rapist that broke into her coffee stand in the early hours of the morning.

US woman Madeline Guinto, who works at Hottie Shots Espresso in Kent in Washington state, when she was allegedly attacked early on Tuesday morning.

Chilling surveillance footage released by police appears to show a knife-wielding man climbing through the window of her stand and run over to her.

He then grabs her and hustles her out of the window.

Ms Guinto said the man put his knife to her throat and demanded she turn the stand's lights off, US news outlet KVAL reported.

After he forced her to climb out the window, she said, he took her to a dark alley and attempted to rape her.

"I'm doing everything I can to stall him," she said.

"I'm dragging my feet. I'm giving him dead body weight so it's not easy for him to just walk me over into my death.

"And I was just like, 'oh my God, why isn't anyone pulling up?'"

She said she fought to grab his knife and struggled with him until something startled him, allowing her to run back to her stand and call the police.

Ms Guinto told KVAL she was not sure if she would return to work at the stand, after also being robbed there in October last year.

She said she hoped speaking about her ordeal would influence other people to speak out.

"It's sad that women don't realise how strong they really are," she said.

"I'm trying so hard not to live in fear. I don't want this to destroy me."

Police have arrested a 33-year-old man over the incident.