A man followed a teenage girl and her toddler brother back to their home in Brooklyn before forcing himself inside and beating the girl up and choking her, police say.
On May 3 just after 10:30 p.m., the girl and her 2-year-old brother got off on the Franklin Avenue subway station in Crown Heights and walked home, according to the NYPD.
The victim's distraught mother told News 4 Wednesday that the man grabbed her toddler son when they got off the subway, but her daughter said nothing for fear the stranger would take off with the baby.
"The guy was carrying my son. He grabbed my son from my daughter from the subway. He grabbed him and start carrying him, so she don't want him to run with my son, so she was playing cool," said the mother, who spoke anonymously out of concern for her daughter.
The man then followed the teenager and toddler to their home. When the girl opened the door, the man forced his way inside and punched the 16-year-old girl in the face several times, then choked her, officials said.
He then stole her cellphone and laptop from the home and ran away, police said.
The girl suffered cuts on her face and neck and was taken to Kings County Hospital in serious condition, authorities said. She has since been released. She is expected to make a full recovery.
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The girl’s brother was not injured, police said.
Police on Tuesday night released surveillance footage of a man wearing a hat with a Superman logo on it who they say is the suspect.
"I really want this guy to get caught so that he doesn't do it to another teenager, to another people's house," said the victim's mother.
