Police: Suspect Turned In By Classmates In Attempted Rape Of 15-Year-Old In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Fellow students at the Eagle Academy for Young Men high school in the Bronx turned in a teenage suspect Wednesday, in connection with the attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl, police said Thursday night.
Darrien Warren, 17, of the Bronx, was charged as an adult with attempted rape in the incident. He was also charged with sexual abuse in connection with a groping incident last year.
As CBS2's Weijia Jiang reported, Warren kept his head down as officers from the NYPD Special Victims Unit led him into a squad car Thursday night.
Police said the suspect followed the girl into an apartment building on Hoffman Street around 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday.
The suspect followed the girl up the stairs to the fifth floor where he grabbed her from behind, pulled her down to the ground and attempted to rape her, police said.
The girl resisted and the suspect took off with her iPhone, police said.
Students at the Eagle Academy saw surveillance video police released from the incident, and identified Warren as the suspect when he arrived at school on Thursday, police said.
NPYD School Safety agents arrested Warren, and he was charged at the Bronx Special Victims Unit, police said.
"If you see something, you've got to say something," said Ely Quinones, who lives on the street where the attack happened. "That's good they caught him, though."
Quinones said she worries about safety in the neighborhood.
"You're walking by yourself, especially when there's people around," Quinones said. "You never know -- kids are doing crazy things these days. You don't know."
Warren was also charged in a forcible touching incident on May 9, 2014 in the Bronx, in which police allege he grabbed an 11-year-old girl's buttocks as she exited the elevator of her building.
Warren was to be arraigned on both charges on Friday, according to the Bronx District Attorney's office.