(NEW YORK) — Two men have been arrested following three attacks on women in Manhattan’s Riverside Park this week, according to New York City police.
The first attack was at about 4:40 p.m Tuesday, when a woman was approached by a man who grabbed her breasts, “made explicit statements” and then fled on a bicycle, the NYPD said at a news conference Friday.
Hours later, around 10 p.m. Tuesday, a woman was jogging in Riverside Park when she was grabbed from behind and pushed to the ground, police said. A man pulled down her shorts and made similar “explicit statements,” police said. The woman screamed and the suspect then fled on a bicycle, according to police.
The third incident was at about 4 a.m. Thursday, when a woman walking in the park was tackled to the ground, police said. The victim tried to call 911 but the suspect took her phone and fled on a bicycle, according to police.
On Thursday afternoon, police officers were canvassing when they spotted a man fitting the description of a suspect in the Thursday morning attack, police said.
The 39-year-old “made incriminating statements” when he was taken into custody, police said. The victim’s phone was found in a search at his home and he was identified in a lineup, police said. That suspect, who has no prior arrests, was charged with attempted rape, robbery, sexual abuse and assault in connection with the Thursday morning attack, police said.
Then, on Thursday night, police said they used surveillance video to track the movements of a second suspect. The 21-year-old suspect was taken into custody and “identified himself in the two [Tuesday] incidents, plus a third forcible touching incident” in June on the Upper West Side, police said.
All three victims identified him in a lineup, police said. He faces charges including assault, attempted rape and forcible touching, police said.
Police called it a “highly unusual case to have two separate stranger attempted rapes in a particular location.”
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