Attempted Rape in Prospect Park: New Suspect Video Released

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — New video footage released Monday by the NYPD is the clearest we've seen yet of the man suspected by police of trying to rape a female jogger in Prospect Park on April 20.

Detectives have described the suspect as standing between 5-feet-10-inches and 6 feet and weighing about 185 pounds.

He was last seen wearing black pants with white lettering on one leg, black sneakers with white bottoms and a black T-shirt, police said. He is believed to be sporting short hair and a goatee.

Shortly after 5 a.m. on April 20, a 23-year-old woman was jogging in the park on a path running alongside West Drive, near the intersection of Garfield Place and Prospect Park West, police said.

The suspect, who was allegedly armed with a knife, tackled her and told her he was going to rape her, according to a police account. The woman was able to fight him off, although she cut her finger in the process.

The day after the attack, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams held a press conference near the crime scene. He called the attack "one of the most traumatic crimes that any person could endure" and urged the public to help police locate the man responsible.

Adams said he believed the attempted rape was the first crime reported within Prospect Park so far in 2016.

Anyone with information on the suspected attacker can confidentially report it via the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers website or anonymously call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Los hispanohablantes pueden llamar 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

Tips can also be text-messaged to the NYPD by texting 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577.

This alleged crime took place in the NYPD's 90th Precinct. According to official police statistics, through April 24, major crimes in the 90th were collectively down nearly 2 percent compared to the same time period last year.

However, reports of rape had made a serious jump from 5 last year to 9 this year.

Also something to be aware of: Last weekend in North Brooklyn, along the Bed-Stuy and Bushwick border, two violent but apparently unrelated sexual attacks were reported within a 5-minute walk of one another.