Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills are looking for a man who posed as a car service driver to allegedly prey on a woman in Rego Park early Sunday morning.
The NYPD is investigating a case of sex abuse after the 33-year-old victim hailed a ride at the corner of West 184th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan just before 5 a.m. on May 14.
Police say the driver of a gray Volkswagen SUV stopped, picked up the woman and asked her destination. The victim indicated a location in Brooklyn, but the man deviated from the GPS direction and brought the victim to the vicinity of Yellowstone Boulevard and 62nd Road in Rego Park, one block south of the Long Island Expressway.
At just after 5:35 a.m. police say the driver pulled out a knife and grabbed the woman’s crotch. The victim was able to jump out of the vehicle and the driver drove off, according to authorities.
While the woman was not slashed or stabbed in the assault, she suffered minor injuries to her hand and feet, police said.
EMS responded to the scene in Rego Park and transported the victim to Elmhurst Hospital Center in stable condition.
The NYPD released a sketch of the assailant and described him as a white Hispanic between 40 and 50 years old who was wearing a black jacket and black pants.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the suspects is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
