Crime sees no age or time. On Wednesday just before noon, a 73 year old woman who frequents Central Park to bird-watch was raped and beaten. Authorities said that the victim and the suspect got into a scuffle just last week after she had taken a photo of him once catching him masturbating in the park. Read more below.
A 73-year-old woman was raped in Central Park just before noon on Wednesday, the police said.
The woman told police that she was approached by a man in a wooded area of the park near 74th Street on the west side, said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Paul J. Browne, the head police spokesman. They gave the following account:
N.Y.P.D.
Surveillance-camera still of the Central Park rape suspect.
The woman, a bird-watcher who goes to the park every day, had encountered the man before. About a week and a half ago, she had seen him masturbating in the Ramble area and taken a photo of him. At the time, the man demanded that the woman delete the photo, and when she refused, he tried unsuccessfully to take her camera.Then Wednesday, around 11:50 a.m., the woman was birding near Strawberry Fields when the man, whom she described as white and clean shaven, with a Russian accent and in his 40s or 50s, appeared again.
He said to her, “Do you remember me?”
Then he threw her to the ground, raped her and stole her bag, which contained a camera. It was not clear if the camera was the one that she had used earlier or if she kept the photos from the earlier encounter, which she never reported to the police. The man also beat her with his fists.
The woman was taken to a hospital.
“She was a victim of a terrible attack,” Mr. Browne said.
