PARK SLOPE — A 23-year-old woman on an early morning jog in Prospect Park fought off a man who threatened her with a knife and tried to rape her Wednesday morning, police said.
The woman was in the park about 5:15 a.m. when the man approached her from behind and threw her to the ground, police said. The man was armed with a knife and said he was going to rape the woman, according to the NYPD.
The attack happened inside the park near Prospect Park West and Garfield Place, police said.
The attacker ran away after struggling with the woman. The woman sustained a cut on her finger during the struggle and was hospitalized in stable condition at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, police said.
Investigators released footage later Wednesday of the suspect, who they said is about 185 pounds, 5 feet 11 inches and has a goatee.
(NYPD)
He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, black pants with white letters on one leg and black sneakers that had white soles, police said.
(NYPD)
No arrests had been made and the investigation was ongoing as of Thursday morning, police said.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called the attack "horrifying" and warned runners to take precautions such as running without ear buds, carrying safety whistles, or running outside the park. Adams, a former police officer, said his safety advice wasn't intended to indicate that "the victim did anything wrong."
"This is one of the safest parks in New York City,” Adams said at a press conference, noting that people use the 585-acre park at all hours. "We want to have a very swift and aggressive response, not only from the police department but from civic and community groups, to catch this person. This person must be apprehended."
The attack spooked runners who take early morning jogs in the park. "Wow I was running this morning in Prospect Park around 5:30 am ... officially never doing that again,” a runner wrote on the Prospect Park Track Club's Facebook page.
On Wednesday afternoon crime scene tape was still hanging from trees where the attack happened, a heavily traveled section of the park near Long Meadow just off West Drive, the main route for runners and cyclists. Police installed a spotlight in the area Wednesday as a safety measure.
Denise Williams, a nanny who visits the park every day with the children she watches, said the attack was unusual for the area. "It's safe, but we can't let our guards down," Williams said. "With sick people around, things happen."
There was one rape reported in Prospect Park in 2015, according to the NYPD.
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