A 75-year-old woman was tackled to the ground and nearly raped in a terrifying early-morning attack outside a Brooklyn cemetery, police said Friday.
The victim was outside Holy Cross Cemetery near Tilden and Brooklyn Aves. in East Flatbush about 6:30 a.m. on Thursday when the hooded suspect ran up and jumped on her back, police said.
“I will rape you!” the predator whispered menacingly as he put the senior in a headlock and dragged her to the ground, forcing her on her stomach.
He pulled the woman’s pants and undergarments down and was about to rape her when her screams scared him off, cops said.
The suspect was last seen running west along Tilden Ave.
EMS rushed the woman to Kings County Hospital for observation.
Cops recovered surveillance video of the would-be rapist fleeing the scene.
He is described as Black with a slim build, and was wearing a black hoodie, a brown T-shirt, gray pants, and sneakers.
By the end of August, rapes in the city had jumped by 11%, from 978 last year to 1,087 so f, cops said.
Cops have been seeing an increase in rape reports all year. In July, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said his team will be tackling the increase head-on and have brought in more detectives to the department’s Special Victims Squad to do the job.
“We have upstaffed our special victims unit tremendously,” he said. “We’re getting new talent in and we haven’t seen staffing like this in years. We’re really taking it seriously.”
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.