Crime & Safety
Woman Raped In Central Park, Another Assaulted Near East River
Two women were assaulted in Central Park and on the East River waterfront within an hour of each other Thursday morning, police said.
NEW YORK CITY — Two women were sexually assaulted in Central Park and near the East River within an hour of each other Thursday morning, according to police, who are trying to determine whether a man they arrested committed both acts.
The first assault unfolded about 7:20 a.m., when a woman in her twenties was walking on a footpath near Swan Lake, the pond at the park's southeast corner near Wollman Rink.
Update: police released photos of a person of interest in the Central Park rape Thursday evening.
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A man dressed in black and wearing a mask came up from behind and began strangling the woman, rendering her briefly unconscious. He then raped her before fleeing, NYPD Inspector Michael King said Thursday.
After regaining consciousness, the survivor asked another parkgoer for help, and the two called 911, King said.
Find out what's happening in Harlemfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
New Yorkers barely had time to process the first attack in Central Park when news broke hours later about the second along the East River. About 45 minutes after the first call, another woman reported being assaulted near a footbridge near East 103rd Street and the FDR Drive in East Harlem.
Responding to a call for help, officers arrived at the scene and arrested a suspect: a 38-year-old man who had committed a prior rape in 2005, King said.
King did not identify the suspect, and said investigators from the NYPD's Special Victims Unit are "exploring all angles" about the two attacks.
"We cannot say conclusively that they are related," he said.
Police will step up patrols in Central Park following the assault there, King said. The department also plans to station a van near Swan Lake Friday morning at the same time that Thursday's attack took place.
King asked anyone who was in Central Park or near the 103rd Street footbridge Thursday morning to call the Crime Stoppers hotline (1-800-577-TIPS) to share information anonymously.
NYPD Statement Regarding Sexual Assault
More information will be provided as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/ivlOOGjzTV
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 11, 2021
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