ASTORIA — Police arrested a suspect they believe could be behind a string of sexual attacks in Astoria in recent months.
Deputy Inspector Stephen Cirabisi, of the 114th Precinct, said at a community council meeting Tuesday night that the precinct has been investigating several incidents that involved a man on a bicycle groping women as they walked home from the train at night.
"We had a pattern...where we had women that were being assaulted by an individual on a bike, that was riding around and sexually assaulting some women in the neighborhood," he said.
"We had an individual that was following women coming off the trains and grabbing them," he added.
Cirabisi said officers picked up a man early Tuesday, who was arrested for a separate violation but was linked to one of the incidents using video footage.
Police were looking to see if the suspect was connected to the other attacks, Cirabisi said.
"They’re working now on the rest of them to see if it’s the same person," he said, saying there had been seven similar incidents dating back to July.
"Hopefully that will end this pattern."
