Homeless Man Charged In Two Upper East Side Feces Attacks
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A homeless man was charged Friday in two feces attacks on the Upper East Side.
Ekwan Hill, 42, was taken into custody at a Brooklyn homeless shelter.
Hill faces charges of assault and forcible touching related to the crimes.
Authorities were able to track him down thanks to a tip, 1010 WINS' Samantha Liebman reported.
He was being held at the Special Victims Unit in East Harlem late Friday, CBS2's Steve Langford reported.
As Hill was placed in the back of a police car, he said, "God did it."
Police said Hill was the one seen on surveillance video Monday evening sneaking up behind a 27-year-old woman on East 74th Street between First and York avenues, shoving a bag of feces down her pants and grabbing her buttocks, police said.
Hill is then seen on the video taking off a glove and running away, according to police.
The clothes Hill is seen wearing in the video, along with numerous latex gloves, were allegedly found in a locker at the shelter, Langford reported.
Police said the Hill is also believed to be involved in a second incident earlier in the day Monday.
In that incident, a 33-year-old woman was walking along 91st Street between Madison and Park avenues when the suspect threw excrement at her.
Police said the woman was hit in the face and torso.
Upper East Side residents, many of whom live in rarified peace, have been terrified of running into the man.
"Oh my God – this city is insane, very scary," one woman said.
"I think it's pretty gross," a man said. "I mean, what else can you say?"
"I'm thrilled they caught somebody on this," resident Elyse Berman said. "It's a horrible act of craziness."
NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce talked briefly about Hill's background.
"He has 21 prior arrests, he's a 42-year-old male, and he's living in that homeless shelter. No documented psychological histories that we have in the Police Department," Boyce said.
When Langford asked Hill if he had done what he is accused of, Hill replied, "No, no, no, no, no."
But a police source said the suspect confessed but quickly stopped talking, demanding legal counsel.