News: Attack on Brooklyn Woman Caught on Camera
(Long Island, N.Y.) A twenty-four-year-old woman was attacked at night in a quiet residential area in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The incident was captured by a surveillance video from a nearby brownstone. Police have not identified the assailant or the victim, but reports say that she lives in the area where the attack occurred.
The incident dates back to March 20th, and the footage shows a woman being grabbed on the sidewalk of a tight-knit residential block on 16th Street. The woman begins to scream immediately, and yells “get off me, get away from me” at her attacker. The attacker responds by trying to lock her in a chokehold from behind.
The screaming continues, and as the woman is pleading for help in a piercingly shrill octave, the attacker still attempts to subdue her. It appears that the attacker is having a fair amount of difficultly in trying to overpower the woman. Reports estimate that the struggle continued for about a minute.
Reports have claimed that the woman was knocked down at some point during the exchange. Eventually, neighbors are alerted by the woman’s screams and the attacker loses focus as they leave their apartments. The woman is then released and able to run away.
The footage also captured the attacker having to lift up his pants, preventing them from falling off, as one of the neighbors asks what is going on. He then flees in the opposite direction of the woman. The video shows him wearing baggy clothing.
Police arrived at the scene moments later at roughly eleven-thirty that evening. They were unable to apprehend the suspect who is still at large. Neighbors fear that he is still terrorizing nearby communities and could be attacking other women.
One of the neighbors, who was able to get a look at the attacker, described him as emotionless with blank eyes. Reports claim that the attacker is a short but stocky Hispanic man. Another neighbor, a fifty-three-year-old retired financial worker who owns the brownstone, also claimed to have gotten a good look at the attacker.
A forty-four-year-old construction worker heard the commotion and came to the street in his pajamas to assist the woman. He said he ran out of his house without his shoes and was just able to throw on pants before witnessing the tail end of the incident. He claimed that the woman’s screams were what alerted him, and that she was able to save herself by her persistence in gaining the neighbors’ attention.
Police are still unsure what the motive was for the crime and whether the victim knew her attacker. Some reports claim that none of the neighbors knew the woman or why the attack occurred at that particular area.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this case is that the video footage clearly shows a vehicle driving at a relatively slow speed down the small street during the attack while the woman is screaming for her life. The vehicle didn’t stop, and the driver didn’t demonstrate any interest in the nearby struggle.
