Police: Search For Suspect Groping Women On Upper East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Police believe the same man is behind two sex assaults this month on the Upper East Side.
In the first incident on September 5, police said a 21-year-old woman was walking around 1 a.m. near East 94th Street and Park Avenue when the suspect reached up her skirt and grabbed her groin. She fell, and he fled on East 94th Street toward Third Avenue.
Then on September 15, police said a 22-year-old woman was walking around 2:50 a.m. near East 90th Street and Lexington Avenue when the suspect grabbed her from behind. He allegedly reached up her skirt, touched her groin and then threw her down to the ground. He fled west on East 90th Street and then north on Lexington Avenue.
"This shouldn't be happening, but there's always crazy people. You have to be careful," one man told CBS2's Crystal Bui. "It's a shame in any neighborhood."
"It makes people nervous, it makes parents nervous," a woman said.
"I'm really surprised in this neighborhood, because we have the school, there's plenty of schools here. So this is a very decent neighborhood," said another woman.
Police described the suspect as a Hispanic man with facial hair, 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 8 to 11 inches tall, last seen wearing a navy blue Yankees hat, Nike T-shirt and blue jeans.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.