Police Hunt Suspect in East Village Attempted Rape
Neighborhood women on edge and police say attacker followed victim into her building.
Police say a man caught on security video tried to rape a woman in her East Village apartment building.
Police are looking for a man they say attempted to rape a woman in the East Village early Sunday morning.
Authorities said the suspect followed the 27-year-old victim into her building at about 3 a.m., pushed her to the ground and attempted to rape her.
The victim fought him off and he fled the scene.
Police released surveillance video of the suspect, shown above.
The 27-year-old victim's neighbor, Sekita Ekrek, told NBC New York she's disturbed by the alleged crime.
"It's quite terrifying because I've always felt safe living in the East Village," Ekrek said.
Cyndie Rodriguez, who has lived nearby for 30 years, saw the pictures of the suspect's face captured by surveillance video.
After noticing how clean cut the man appeared and how smoothly he walked up to the apartment entrance behind his victim, Rodriguez cautioned women should never assume an attacker will always fit the description of "a bad guy."
"The one that is going to hurt you is going to look just like you," she said. "They're going to be clean cut ... someone that you would hold the door for, so you need to be careful about those things."
Posted Monday, Nov 14, 2011 - 6:23 AM EST
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