The NYPD is investigating the attempted sexual assault on a 23-year-old woman in Queens.
Police say a man followed the woman from a bus stop around 8 p.m. Sunday on South Conduit Avenue in the Laurelton section. He grabbed her from behind, threw her to the ground, and tried to get on top of her, according to police.
They say the woman was able to fight off her assailant, who fled.
A man heard the victim's cries for help and jumped into action.
"I heard a girl screaming, yelling for 'help! Help! Help!, This guy tried to rape me,''" said Patrick Paret, who was nearby when the attack happened. "Her face was bloody, she had no shoes on, her legs was bloodied up. By the time I came out, he was running."
"This is a tight community right here, and we all stick together," he added. "And he better hope the police catch him before we do."
On Thursday, a 20-year-old woman was raped in neighboring Jamaica.
Police have not linked the two attacks.
Still, women in the area were worried about the attacks so close together. One area resident told NBC New York she takes the cab home from the train station when she gets in at night.
