Child sexually assaulted in alley
Police: Girls father stumbled onto the attack, chased the suspect who fled in an SUV
Eyewitness News
(Borough Park-WABC, Oct. 5, 2006) - Two seven-year-old girls were hospitalized after one was kissed and fondled in an alleyway in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
Eyewitness News has learned the girls, who have not yet been interviewed by sex crimes detectives, said that they were approached by a Hispanic man. The man coerced one of the girls into the alleyway, where the victim said he kissed and fondled her.
The girl's father, apparently stumbled on the attack and chased the suspect into the street.
Police say the man jumped into a dark SUV and drove off, as the father tried to hold on to the vehicle's door. The father may have caused some damage to the door as the driver sped off.
Police quickly called a Level 1 mobilization and a large number of officers responded to search for evidence. The incident stirred fear in the tight-knit neighborhood, where kids often play in the streets unattended by parents but always under the watchful eye of neighbors.
Meanwhile, one man, 41-year-old Alfigo Herrara, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and public lewdness for one of a string of as many as five attempted abductions in nearby Borough Park during April and May. The others remained unsolved.
There was initially not enough detail to determine if this assault fit any existing patterns.
(Copyright 2006 WABC-TV)