Westchester Man Accused Of Knifepoint Attack In N. White Plains

NORTH WHITE PLAINS, NY — A 32-year-old Westchester man was accused of attacking someone at knifepoint and then kissing the victim.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said, in an indictment returned by a county grand jury, Jose Mejia Lopez, 32, was charged with the following:

• First-degree sexual abuse
• Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon
• Second-degree unlawful imprisonment
• Second-degree menacing
• Second-degree assault
• Resisting arrest
• Third-degree escape

Mejia Lopez was arraigned Monday in Westchester County Court.

Prosecutors said, around 4 p.m. June 22, he grabbed an 18-year-old who was walking with two friends to the North White Plains Metro-North station and forcibly kissed her while pinning her against a wall by her neck and holding a knife to her throat.

The attack was captured on surveillance video, police said.

After finding out that Mejia Lopez may have fled the scene on a Bee-Line No. 6 Route bus, White Plains police stopped the bus headed to Yonkers on North Broadway and removed him.

After his arrest, he escaped from police custody.

Following a short foot pursuit, during which a police officer was injured, Mejia Lopez was apprehended.

Police said they recovered a pocket knife from underneath a seat in the bus near where the defendant had been sitting.

Bail was set at $50,000 cash, $100,000 bond or $500,000 partially secured bond. Mejia Lopez remains in custody at the Westchester County Jail. His next court date is Aug. 29.