MANHATTAN — A woman was sexually assaulted near Union Square when a man she asked directions from led her in the wrong direction and attacked her inside a phone booth, police said.
The 22-year-old victim, from Long Island, was near East 39th Street and Lexington Avenue at about 1:35 a.m. Sunday when she approached a stranger to ask for directions to Penn Station, police said.
The man offered to help and told the woman to follow him, but intentionally misled her as they began walking downtown, police said.
The man led the woman south on Fifth Avenue to West 15th Street, where he pushed her into a double phone booth and sexually assaulted her before fleeing, police said.
She was taken to Bellevue Hospital, police said.
Surveillance footage from a building at Fifth Avenue and West 29th Street shows a man police identified as the suspect wearing a red American Eagle T-shirt, blue jeans and Converse sneakers.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit tips on the website.
