Manhattan has not one but two violent sexual predators on the loose, police said late Wednesday as they connected a Brooklyn subway attack to one man amid their ongoing search for another suspect wanted in at least three other cases.
Most of the nearly half-dozen attacks have been partially caught on surveillance cameras, with shocking footage showing unsuspecting women walking along the street and getting tackled from behind by men on electric scooters or bicycles.
New video released by police late Wednesday shows the suspect in Saturday's Carroll Street subway attack as he enters the station. Cops say he came from behind the 20-year-old and grabbed her, then started groping her. He put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming, they say, but she was able to shout after a struggle and the man ran off.
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The NYPD says that's the same man who brutally attacked a woman on Manhattan's Upper West Side several days earlier, last Wednesday. In that case, a 33-year-old was walking on West 69th Street when a man on an electric scooter came from behind, dragged her to a secluded area and tried to rape her, officials have said.
At the same time they hunt this predator, the NYPD is trying to track down another man wanted in a series of sex attacks in Manhattan. The pattern dates back to May, but two of the attacks happened an hour apart in Manhattan on July 16.
Police added a May 15 incident on the Manhattan Bridge walkway to that pattern. The most recent cases were equally chilling.
The first attack on July 16 happened around 5 a.m. near Avenue A and East Fourth Street. Video shows the 28-year-old victim walking in the cross street, a man on an electric bike weaving in and around the lines on the pavement around her. He almost appears to bump into her at times, then swerves away.
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She crosses the street and the footage cuts to another location. The woman is seen walking underneath a construction façade, along the sidewalk. Suddenly, someone is seen running from behind and tackling her. Police say he told the woman he had a knife and forced her to perform oral sex. He never showed the weapon, they said. He fled the scene on his bicycle.
An hour earlier, cops say the same man attacked a 23-year-old woman around 4 a.m. near Central Park West and West 82nd Street. Again, he approached from behind and pulled her to the ground, police said. A struggle ensued. Cops say the suspect held the victim down and sexually assaulted her. He ran off on foot, then was seen a short time later traveling southbound on Central Park West on an electric bicycle. That victim had abrasions to her body and was taken to a hospital to be evaluated.
Each of the victims was evaluated or treated for various injuries.
Anyone with information on either suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
