A woman lay frozen on the ground while a man reached into her pants on the sidewalk of a popular Brooklyn neighbourhood.
Dramatic surveillance video shows the man stalk, follow, and then run up behind and tackle the 35-year-old to the ground near the corner of Morgan Avenue, on the boundary of Williamsburg and Bushwick.
For 13 seconds, she lay there unmoving as the man "reached into her shorts and forcibly touched her", according to the New York City Police Department.
He didn’t get up and until the woman began fighting back with her phone, swinging at the man before stumbling to the ground on her knees. Moments earlier he had walked past the woman before he fell behind her to launch the attack. He fled east down Stagg Street.
Police said the brazen assault on Monday, 28 June, occurred about 8.10 pm when it is still light in New York, which currently has an 8.30 pm sunset.
The East Williamsburg area of the assault is surrounded by popular restaurants, bars and designer stores.
The woman wearing workout gear and headphones appeared to be out for a run or exercise as the pair walked down the street and past onlookers before the attack.
She told police she noticed the man following her down Morgan Avenue before she turned west down Stagg Street, according to The New York Post. She did not report injuries and refused medical treatment.
The suspect was described as 5 feet and 5 inches, weighing about 165 pounds with a medium complexion, medium build and black hair.
He was wearing a black T-shirt, camouflage pants, black sneakers, a fanny pack, and a Covid mask hanging below his neck.
