More details this morning about an attack that happened inside a public housing building on the Lower East Side in late January. Yesterday, cops circulated a sketch of the suspect wanted in the slashing of a 30-year-old woman at a residential property near Jefferson and Madison streets. Channel 2 spoke with the victim, who said she didn’t realize right away that the attacker had cut her face:
The victim was attacked at a Housing Authority building on the Lower East Side, by a man hiding in the stairwell. “He started to punch me in the face. I fell to the ground. I called for my mom. When I got up I said, ‘why did you hit me,’” she said. The man said nothing and fled.
(Once an ambulance arrived, the woman said, she became aware of the gash below her cheek.)
According to the report, there are security issues at the building:
Surveillance cameras in the lobby didn’t capture his image, but did show the security door wide open that night. Residents say the automatic closing mechanism has been broken for weeks, and many residents don’t seem to bother closing the door behind them. The victim said that even when the door appears to be securely closed, it’s common knowledge in the neighborhood that the door isn’t hard to open. A quick bang on the buzzer panel and the door unlocks. “It’s a big problem,” the victim said. After CBS2 contacted the Housing Authority, it promised to fix the door on Tuesday.
The incident happened at around 1 in the afternoon on Jan. 31. If you have any information about this crime, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
