Park Attacks Crackdown Continues
Eight more men were awaiting arraignment Friday on charges they took part in attacks on at least 44 women in New York City's Central Park following the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.
CBS station WCBS reports six suspects were arrested Thursday and two more overnight. New York police nabbed them after releasing photos pulled from videotapes of assaults, in which packs of men sprayed women and girls with water, stripped them and sexually assaulted or robbed them.
Police Commissioner Howard Safir said at least 50 calls were made to the police department's crime hotline about other suspects, and he hoped more arrests would be made soon. Photos of more suspects were to be released Friday, said police spokesman Sgt. Elias Nikas.
In all, 10 men have been arrested, including two who were taken into custody minutes after they allegedly attacked three British tourists.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said as many as 60 men in various groups may have participated in the attacks.
One victim was only 14 years old, another a French tourist on her honeymoon. All the attacks occurred in broad daylight, and the majority of victims were assaulted in the southern end of the park, near the Sixth Avenue entrance, the zoo and the Plaza Hotel.
In a news conference Thursday evening, detectives said at least 44 women have reported being doused with water, stripped, groped and fondled by the out of control mob.
Some of the suspects have been identified by two or three different victims as having taken part in the attacks. The victims have been looking at freeze-frames of amateur video shot during the rampage – some of the video shot by the accused assailants.
By New York State law the suspects can only be charged with misdemeanors, but New York Gov. George Pataki said Thursday on WCBS radio he would propose legislation to make "gang sexual assault" a felony.
Current law would require someone to have been raped or badly hurt to make the Central Park Attacks punishable as felonies.
One of the suspects, John Taylor, 24, described Sunday's events as "an innocent water fight that got out of hand." He told The New York Times that as the scene grew wilder, he told his friends: "'Somebody's going to get arrested, let's get out of here.' And sure enough, that's what happened."
Not exactly New York's finest moment, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod. According to some of the victims New York police were partly to blame.
"People were groping me and attacking me," said Peyton Bryant, one of the victims. "(The police) did nothing to respond while the crime was going on to prevent any further crimes from occurring."
Safir denied that his officers sat by and did nothing.
"That's not true," the police commissioner said. "Police officers responded and responded quickly. I'm not satisfied that every police officer did, and those who didn't we will find them and we'll discipline them."
Some New York residents speculated police officers were too lax in security during the Puerto Rican Day parade because they didn't want to appear heavy-handed with an ethnic crowd.
"Their reaction was no reaction," said David Grandison, who was shooting home video in the park Sunday. "They really just stood there. It seemed to me like, 'Hey, they're minorities, let them do what they want. Let them go wild. You know, we don't care, we're just going to let them do their thing.'"
Safir responded: "That's just nonsense. We police all our parades exactly the same."