Update: The NYPD confirmed to Metro they have a man in custody regarding the 73-year-0ld woman who was allegedly raped in Central Park on Wednesday.
According to A Walk in the Park, a 42-year-old man was picked up by police at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday at Amsterdam Avenue and 77th Street. He is reportedly homeless and may be wanted for an Aug. 20 incident in Central Park, where he allegedly pulled a knife on a park patron.
Police said they could not confirm those details. No charges have been filed yet in the rape case.
A 73-year-old woman was attacked and raped in broad daylight near the popular Strawberry Fields area of Central Park.
According to the NYPD, the woman was attacked at 11:50 a.m. Wednesday near 74th Street and Central Park West. Her attacker is described as a white man between 40 and 50 years old. Police released a photo of a man seen on surveillance video wanted for questioning in the crime.
34-year-old Eric Ozawa told DNAinfo he called police after he found the woman with a black eye and swollen face.
“She said she’d been raped, so I took out my phone and called 911,” he said. “Obviously, something terrible had happened to her.”
Ozawa said the woman also told him she had been birdwatching and her attacker stole her camera, backpack and wallet.
The woman was transported to the hospital, where police said she was in stable condition Wednesday night. Police are still looking for the suspect.
This incident comes just over a week after a young woman was raped in a playground on the Upper West Side. Police said the 19-year-old woman was attacked just after 2 a.m. September 3 in Riverside Park between W. 96th and 97th streets.
As Metro reported earlier this month, this summer saw a spike in violent crime within the city’s parks. There have been about 23 shootings or stabbings in parks, compared to about 14 of those types of crimes last summer.
