A 7-year-old girl who told police that she was sexually assaulted while walking home from a playground in Columbia has recanted her story.

Howard County police said the girl told child-abuse investigators on Thursday that there had been no assault.

The girl first told police that she was approached by four young men as she walked home from a playground Oct. 12 at about 7 p.m. She said the attack occurred in a large grassy area in the 9600 block of Basket Ring Road.

She had described her attackers as four men with dreadlock hairstyles Three had motor scooters, she said, and the fourth rode a bicycle. She said they grabbed her and assaulted her, though police later said she was not raped.

The child told a family member, who took her to a hospital.

Police said they noted inconsistencies in her story, and that they have referred the girl and her family to "appropriate services for assistance."