Police: Man Charged In Brooklyn Rape That Cost Victim 2 Teeth
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A homeless man has been arrested in the vicious attack of a woman in Brooklyn earlier this month, police said Thursday.
Kareem David, 28, was charged with first-degree rape and assault, police said.
The attack happened around 3 a.m. back on Aug. 17, police said.
The suspect came up to a 52-year-old woman on Putnam Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and threatened to shoot her unless she followed him, police said.
The woman followed David to a staircase outside a building on Lefferts Place where he pushed his fingers down her throat, police said. He then allegedly removed the victim's underwear and raped her, police said.
"That area back there is completely closed off so that's kind of scary because you can't see it from the road," neighbor Cathleen Crothan said. "I'm sure you wouldn't be able to hear anything."
The woman lost two teeth in the attack and had to go to a local hospital, police said.
Friends of the victim were outraged and are now helping her recover from the frightening incident.
"If that guy was caught out there, he would be shreds, that's what I know," said friend Rootsie Butters.
Neighbors said the building where the incident happened has become a hotbed for criminal activity because it's vacant, surrounded by trees and doesn't have security cameras, CBS2's Ilana Gold reported.
"Drugs, prostitution, whatever it is they're not supposed to be doing, they do it over there," said neighbor Ray Robinson.
Police say David has been arrested at least a half-dozen times in the last decade, mostly on robbery and drug charges.