Man Accused Of Brutally Beating Teen In Bronx Park Arrested
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD has arrested a man accused of brutally beating and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in the Bronx earlier this week.
Neighbors have been sickened all week knowing that the man who attacked a teenage girl in Shoelace Park was still at large, CBS2's Ali Bauman reported. Now, police say 27-year-old Shaun Lewis is in custody.
The girl was on her way home from a friend's house around 4:40 a.m. Monday when she encountered a strange man at the Gun Hill Road train stop, police said. The man dragged her into the park where he brutally beat her, stomping on her head and cracking her teeth, and tried to rape her.
"She's assaulted rather dramatically, so we believe she fought very hard," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
The girl drifted in and out of consciousness for hours until a good Samaritan found her around 10 a.m. and drove her to a nearby hospital, police said.
Residents near the park say their neighborhood is typically dangerous at night, and lately it's felt even more unsafe.
"Fear, I'm in fear. I wasn't before but now that I know this is not a very safe area to be, especially me being a single woman at night traveling alone," resident Velma Buie said.
"I usually run in the park in the morning, but after it started getting dark, I just stopped," Francis Thomas said.
"Sometimes I have to go to work at 4-o-clock in the morning and it's not easy," Yoland Deleon said.
Lewis faces assault, strangulation, attempted rape, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child charges.
