NEW YORK — Police in New York City are searching for a man on a scooter who brutally attacked a 59-year-old woman on the sidewalk of a Brooklyn street during a prolonged sexual assault in full view of passing vehicles. passed and a sanitation sweeper who was captured on video.
The attack caught on surveillance camera occurred around 2 a.m. in East Flatbush on March 31. Police have released surveillance video in their effort to find the malefactor, though some may find it painfully long to watch. In the video, a man on a motorized scooter is seen approaching from behind the victim as she was walking, bag in hand, on a sidewalk on Church Avenue.
Words appear to be exchanged, then the scooter driver hits the woman in the head, knocking her into the street and onto the ground, where she remains for some time. As she squirms there, apparently trying to get up, the scooter driver, who had left after the initial slap, returns from the opposite direction. He stops next to the woman.
The two fight in the street. The scooter driver then appears to struggle to pull the woman or drag her in the direction of her vehicle, which is still on the street, dragging her nearly limp body. He is seen tearing at her pants and underwear as he sexually abused her in a 90-plus-second ordeal that unfolded in full view of a street sweeper and other vehicles passing by in the middle of the night.
Finally, the woman gets to her feet, words are exchanged with her attacker, and another fight ensues. The suspect tries to grab her and talk to her, as she backs away. Finally, she gets back on her scooter and drives off.
Among the vehicles seen driving by the scene in the police video is a street sweeper from the Department of Sanitation. The agency says it’s investigating, though it’s not clear if the driver saw what was happening, understood it or reported it.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (English), or for Spanish at 1-888-57-PISTA.
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