By The newspaper
20 Jul 2024, 01:21 AM EDT
A 53-year-old woman was brutally beaten and raped inside a building in Queens (NYC), as the city faces a rise in sexual abuse reports.
The victim was inside a building on Main St. near 40th Road in downtown Flushing around 10:45 p.m. Sunday when a young man wearing a black T-shirt and white shorts attacked her, NYPD said Tuesday in releasing a photo of the suspect.
The attacker repeatedly punched her in the head and face and raped her before running away. He was described as a stocky Hispanic man, about 20 years old or older, she said. Daily News.
WANTED-RAPE: On 7/14/24 inside a commercial building located in the vicinity of @NYPD109Pct Main St & 40th Rd, an unidentified individual assaulted a 53-yr-old female victim & forcibly raped her. Any info call us at 800-577-TIPS or anonymously post on our website pic.twitter.com/BUvQLJ05x2
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) July 20, 2024
The woman was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Police patrolling the area discovered that the rapist then boarded a local New York City subway station, where he was caught on surveillance cameras.
That attack came as police are grappling with a 10 percent increase in rape reports this year. As of Sunday night, the NYPD was investigating 880 rapes and sexual assaults, 84 more than the 796 reported at this time last year. And the cases could be higher, as police say most rapes remain unreported.
The number of sexual assaults committed by strangers has also increased, as has domestic rape. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said his team will address the increase head-on and has added more detectives to the NYPD’s Special Victims Squad.
“We have greatly expanded the staffing of our special victims unit,” he said during a July 13 press conference. “We are bringing in new staff and we haven’t seen staffing like this in years. We are really taking this seriously.”
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) and for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). They can also be reached at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or by texting 274637 (CRIMES) followed by TIP577. All communications are strictly confidential.
One of the most high-profile recent cases occurred last month when a 13-year-old girl was abused while playing soccer with a 13-year-old boy in Kissena Park in Queens. A 25-year-old Hispanic man was arrested and beaten by the community, and later confessed to the crime.
In another similar case, in mid-May a 15-year-old girl fought bravely to avoid being raped by a man who approached her while she was walking through a park in the Bronx (NYC). And the same thing happened to a 21-year-old woman who was tanning in the famous Central Park in Manhattan.
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- Text “WELL” to 65173.
- Check information at https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/es/ and www.988lineadevida.org