EAST WILLIAMSBURG — A father and son chased off a would-be rapist they saw attacking a young woman on a sidewalk early Tuesday morning, then helped police track him down several blocks away from the incident, according to NYPD officials.
A 27-year-old woman walking near McKibbin and White streets was approached from behind by a man who said hello, and then tackled her to the ground at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, police said.
A 46-year-old father and his 28-year-old stepson passing by, saw the man holding the woman on the ground, shaking her and trying to rape her, police said. The woman's underwear had been pulled down.
The two approached the man who bolted off and the 28-year-old took off after him, and was soon able to flag down a police car and get in and try to track down the attacker, according to police.
They soon found Todd Deas, 30, nearby on Harrison Avenue, where he was identified by the witness and promptly arrested.
Emergency workers rushed the 27-year-old woman to Elmhurst Hospital who had swelling on the left side of her face and bleeding from her nose and left ear, according to police. Investigators prepared a rape kit, police said.
Deas, who lived nearby the scene of the crime at 89 Porter Street, a Doe Fund Homeless Shelter, according to police, was awaiting arraignment as of Wednesday morning and no information about his attorney was immediately available.
Prosecutors charged him with attempted rape, assault and strangulation, court records show.
Alexander Horwitz, a spokesman for the Doe Fund, an organization that provides job training and transitional housing for the homeless and formerly incarcerated, said that they couldn't confirm Deas was a resident because of privacy laws.
"Everyone at Porter Avenue — the people who work there and the men who live there— are deeply upset by what's been reported," Horwitz said. "The entire Doe Fund family stands with the victim and we will do everything and anything we can to assist the NYPD in their investigation and help ensure she gets the justice she needs and deserves."
Deas spent a year in state prison for attempted sale of controlled substance when he was 22-years-old and then another three years for robbery. Just before his release in 2013, he got three more years for promoting prison contraband and was finally let go in July. He was on parole until 2021.
The attempted rape was first reported by the NY Post.
