Three women were sexually assaulted in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side this week and police announced during a press conference Friday that they had nabbed the alleged suspects.
James Essig, chief of detectives, told reporters that the terrifying pattern began Tuesday inside the park at around 4:40 p.m. when a Hispanic man allegedly approached a 19-year-old woman while he was on a bicycle near West 79th Street. The man then allegedly grabbed the woman’s breasts and made sexual comments before fleeing on the bike.
That evening, a 38-year-old woman was jogging northbound inside the park near West 89th Street at around 10 p.m. when she was grabbed from behind by a man on a bicycle who then attempted to pull down her shorts. According to Essig, the suspect made similar sexual remarks.
The woman screamed and the suspect fled on the bicycle northbound on the bike path. The victim described the suspect as being Hispanic, around 30 years old and wearing blue jeans and a jersey with the number 40 on the back.
Two days later, on Thursday at around 4 a.m., a 21-year-old woman was sexually assaulted while walking inside the park near 59th Street, police said. The suspect tackled the victim to the ground, before a struggle ensued and she ripped off his chain from around his neck.
The victim, Essig said, attempted to call 911 at which point the suspect took her phone and fled.
The woman described the suspect as Black with a red colored shirt, jeans and a distinctive multicolored baseball hat. He also spoke with a heavy accent.
Essig said that police initially believed that all three attacks were connected and put together a unit—including their Manhattan video collection team—to catch the suspect.
Cops Thursday were able to track down a suspect who fit the description of the man wearing the multicolored hat. They took him into custody at around 2:30 p.m., where he allegedly made incriminating statements pertaining to the incident near West 59th Street, including the loss of the chain. Police searched his Manhattan apartment, Essig said, and recovered the victim’s cellphone as well as the red shirt he was wearing at the time of the alleged crime.
The woman who was attacked identified him in a lineup, police said, and he was subsequently arrested and charged with attempted rape and robbery charges. He has been identified as Tatchiem Noubssi Luc, 39.
Hours later, at around 7:30 p.m., the NYPD’s video team tracked down a different man to a residential building on West 125th Street.
Detectives arrived at the man’s building where they identified him as the suspect in the video and saw a bicycle as well as a red shirt with the number 40 on it. He was taken into custody for the two sexual assaults that took place Tuesday, and cops also said he was also involved in a forceable touching incident on June 25 at West 111th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The victims identified him in a lineup, according to Essig.
The man has been identified as Jhonathan Cortes-Lopez, 21, and has been charged with attempted rape, sexual assault and forcible touching.
Watch live as @NYPDDetectives provide an update on an ongoing sexual assault investigation https://t.co/A7Oq4uyqAf
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 21, 2023
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