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Woman Scares Off Sex Attacker in Fort Tryon Park Bathroom, Police Say

By  Janon Fisher and Ben Fractenberg | June 12, 2014 3:26pm 

 A heavy-set man attacked a woman in a bathroom in Ft. Tyron Park on Thursday, police said.
A heavy-set man attacked a woman in a bathroom in Ft. Tyron Park on Thursday, police said.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

INWOOD — A woman chased off a sex attacker after he dropped his pants and grabbed her in a Ft. Tryon Park bathroom Thursday afternoon, police said.

An unidentified woman in her 40s was approached in the Anne Loftus Playground women's room about 12 p.m. by a man, according to the NYPD.

The suspect entered the bathroom, took off his pants and grabbed the woman, but fled when she screamed, police said.

Police are looking for a heavy-set man about 5-feet, 6-inches tall.

Park-goers were terrified by the attack.

"I'm not bringing my kids back here," Michelle Valdez, 27, whose daughters are 3 and 7 years old, said. "I don't let them use the bathroom."

In 2011, police, the parks department and politicians announced a new initiative to increase security in Inwood parks after a series of sex attacks.

But on Thursday, Valdez questioned where police and parks workers were during the attack.

"They need more staff in the park," she said.