NYPD: Suspect Grabbed 11-Year-Old Girl's Hair, Tried To Choke Her At Stuyvesant Square Park
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD is looking for a man accused of hitting a child and a teenager.
Officers say it happened during the student lunch break in Stuyvesant Square.
As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reports, video appears to show an argument between some adults in a dog park and some students outside of the fence at Perlman Place and East 16th Street Wednesday around noon.
At one point, video shows a student throw dirt. then a person referred to as a teacher in the video tries to keep the students back. Next, one of the kids goes into the dog park, and the incident escalated.
UPDATE 10/23/2021: Man Arrested After Allegedly Attacking, Trying To Choke 11-Year-Old Girl At Manhattan Park
One dog walker told Duddridge she witnessed the whole thing.
"I don't know what happened. The kid is now in the park. He grabbed her by the throat, punched her in the head, grabbed her. All the kids started running in the park to defend her. It just turned into a whole crazy thing," the dog walker said.
Police are now looking for a man seen in video wearing a gray shirt and black sunglasses. They say he grabbed the girl by the hair and punched her. Investigators say she tried to fight back, but he wrapped his hands around her neck.
Officers say a 15-year-old boy tried to intervene, but was also struck by the man. The teen was treated for minor injuries. The 11-year-old girl was brought to Mt. Sinai-Beth Israel in stable condition.
"I confronted him and said 'Why would you put your hands on a young 11-year-old girl?' So disturbing and disgusting, you're not gonna get away with this. He said I don't care, I would do it again," the dog walker said.
Several people told Duddridge they've seen the man before in the dog park, and didn't like what they saw.
"He, like, hit his dog… he'll get mad at his dog for not coming out of the park when he wants. He'll come and sit on the bench and slap him around," one person said.
People in the area say they always see kids hanging out in the park on their lunch break. Duddridge reached out to the surrounding several schools for comment. So far, there has been no response.
Police are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be sent to the NYPDTips Twitter account or submitted online at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.
