Search Continues For Suspect In Brooklyn Attempted Rape
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The search continues for a man who police say is wanted for an attempted rape in Brooklyn.
Around 4 a.m. Friday, police said a 39-year-old woman was riding a southbound N train when a man tried to start a conversation with her and then groped her.
She got off the train at the Bay Parkway station to try to get away from him, but police said he followed the woman and kept trying to talk to her.
As she walked on Bay Parkway, police said he grabbed the woman and tried to drag her down. As the woman fell, police said he climbed on top of her, pinned her arms and tried to rape her.
The woman yelled out for help and the man fled.
A local shop owner, who didn't want to be identified, said police came in his store next to the N train station, combing through surveillance video.
"Last week, a lady came down the street. She was walking, the cop said she got assaulted at the corner and that's when they came in the store and they were looking for the cameras," he told CBS2's Magdalena Doris. "This happens often around here."
He said he knows the early morning empty streets of Bensonhurst can be dangerous.
"It is nice in the daytime," he said. "At night, it is a different world."
Another woman said she was followed walking to the F train about one month ago.
"I looked back and I walk like this and he was right behind me, but I stopped and I gave him a look and he just ran the other way," Gisenia Velasquez said.
Doris showed her surveillance video captured from the most recent attack. She can't recognize the man in the video, but said she tries to be prepared and "always be aware of my surroundings."
Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic man in his 20s, 5'4" to 5'6" tall and weighing between 150 and 175 pounds. He was seen wearing a sweater, a white t-shirt, jeans and a backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
