Sex Predator Attacks In Spotlight Following Incidents In Queens, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - First Brooklyn and now Queens.
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and council member Jimmy Van Bramer held a news conference Monday to bring attention to a sexual predator who has attacked women - and a 12-year-old girl - in Queens.
The latest incident happened Sunday night in the Laurelton/Springfield Gardens border when she 23-year-old woman got off a bus and was almost raped. The suspect punched her twice in the head and got on top of her. The woman fought back and the suspect fled.
Her screams brought a neighbor out of his house. He first tried to chase the suspect, but came back to the woman when he saw the condition she was in.
"She was bloodied up, you know, she had no shoes on. She had blood coming from her feet," the neighbor told CBS 2's Pablo Guzman.
The suspect is thought to be in his early 20's.
Police are also looking for a another perpetrator that has struck in the Sunnyside and Woodside neighborhoods.
That suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 30-40. He's been spotted riding a black mountain bike. His attacks have generally been in the nature of a "bike-by" groping. He's struck in the same general area. In a recent attack, he struck on Oct. 7th at 39th Avenue and 46th Street.
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There are six other incidents related to this pattern.
Council Member Van Bramer is working with the NYPD to support the full-scale investigation already underway to capture the suspect as soon as possible.
"Sunnyside and Woodside are safe neighborhoods but one assault against women is one too many," Van Bramer said.
"We are not going to allow this predator to make women afraid in these or any other sections of Queens," Quinn said.
Last Wednesday, a 23-year-old woman was walking near 226th Street and South Conduit Avenue at around 11:30 p.m. when she was approached by a man who sexually assaulted her and then took off. That suspect was described a black male in his 20s, medium build with acne scars and a thin moustache. He's 5-foot-3-5-4
In just the past few months, at least two dozen women have been sexually assaulted in Brooklyn and Queens. At least 20 incidents have been reported in South Brooklyn, and police have recently arrested two men suspected of attacks there.
If you have any information about any of these attacks, police want you to contact Crime Stoppers.
- You can call 1-800-577-8477 (TIPS). All calls are kept confidential.
- You can text your tip to 274637 (CRIMES), and then entering TIP577
- You can log on to the Crime Stoppers website.
Do you think there has been a spike in sex attacks or have they just been getting more attention lately? Sound off in our comments section.
