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Video Released Of Riverside Park Attacks Suspect
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 10, 2010
Modified Jul 10, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 10, 2010
Modified Jul 10, 2010
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As New Yorkers who enjoy Riverside Park worry about the two attacks on Monday, police released surveillance video of "a person they say fits the description of the suspect." The video was taken about an hour after the attacks, which occurred at around 6 a.m. at 120th Street in the park and at 6:20 a.m. at 98th Street. One parkgoer told WABC 7, "It's pretty shocking, I go walking in Riverside Park all the time. I've always thought it was pretty safe, it's disturbing."
The man in the video seems to fit the description the second victim gave to the police: a black man in his 20s, 5'8" with a thin build and black hair. The police had said the man was wearing blue shorts (and blue and white boxers), but the video shows the man wearing red shorts. He also appears to be holding an iPod; an iPod was taken from the 120th Street victim, Marisa Cortright. Cortright, a 19-year-old Barnard student, had been running in the park near the tennis courts when someone grabbed her from behind, punched her, and slammed her into a concrete wall around 6 a.m.Another parkgoer found her unconscious on a bench. She suffered bleeding on the brain, a fractured cheekbone, and lacerations to her face, head and neck.
In the 6:20 a.m. attack, Jan Blumenfeld, a 48-year-old Yeshiva University employee, was walking her dog when a man struck her repeatedly on the back of the head. She fell to the ground and was kicked in the head and stomach repeatedly. Blumenfeld, who saw a doctor for her injuries, did not report the incident until she saw coverage of Cortright's attack.
Some women told the Daily News they were more wary—"I'm going to start going to the gym for now instead of exercising in the park. I was walking with a girl (earlier) and she was like, 'Man, I can't believe you're going to the park'" and "I'm looking over my shoulder now. I'm not so quick to put on my iPod"—but one told NY1, "It doesn't discourage me because it's why we chose to live here, but you just have to be extra careful."
The NYPD has reportedly stepped up patrols in the park. And the man described as a person of interest— 6-foot-2, heavyset black man in his mid-40s wearing a bright blue, long-sleeved shirt and black pants—in the 120th Street attack is believed to have witnessed the attack.
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attack
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riverside park
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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