More details have emerged from police about a rape in Waterbury-LaSalle, with cops still looking for the suspect as of press time.
The New York Police Department is asking the public’s help in identifying the alleged rapist, who was caught on a security camera wearing red sneakers and white medical scrubs on the morning of the attack, roughly at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 20.
According to some people, the suspect may have been wearing white because he had attended a “dress in white” event at one of the local bars.
The Special Victims Unit is handling the case, and the suspect appears to be a black male, said a police source.
The assault occurred at gunpoint, and more details have been released as to what exactly happened when the victim, a 24-year-old woman, was approached just a few blocks from the Bruckner Expressway on the East Tremont Avenue thoroughfare.
According to a police source, the victim was first approached between Haskin and Meyers streets on the Hops side of East Tremont Avenue, not far from the cemetery.
The victim was not put into a car, the source said.
She was forced across E. Tremont Avenue and down Meyers Street, a dead end, a source close to the investigation confirmed.
There is surveillance camera footage of the suspect that police have released.
Anyone with information about this incident can call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
You can also submit your tips by texting them to 274637 (CRIMES). Text the tip and then enter TIP577.
To learn more about the program, visit NYPD Crimes Stoppers online at a056-crimestoppers.nyc.gov/crimestoppers/public/index.html
Waterbury-LaSalle community activist Annie Boller, who is a member of the Waterbury-LaSalle Community Association’s board, as well as a board member of the 45th Precinct Community Council, said that the police department needs to be given a freer hand to do more aggressive policing. There also needs to be more community involvement, she said.
“We need to be there for one another, and we are not,” she said. She called rape “every woman’s greatest nightmare.”
“Unfortunately, our neighborhood being the way that it is, we are not expecting it,” she said while speaking of the rape.
“Women are just going to have to watch the shadows,” she said.
She also advocated for a return of more “cops on the beat,” or foot patrols, but said that as of yet, no additional resources have been allocated.
