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NBC 4 New York
Central Park rape suspect David Mitchell spits at reporters as he walks to the police car after his arrest.
Updated at 7:31 p.m. ET: Police arrested a suspect Thursday in connection with the violent sexual assault of a 73-year-old birdwatcher in Central Park, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.
The suspect, David Albert Mitchell, 42, was identified by the victim in a lineup at the Special Victims Unit on Thursday afternoon, NBCNewYork.com reported. He was charged with predatory sexual assault, rape, criminal sex act, robbery and assault.
Mitchell said nothing as he walked out of central booking in Manhattan to a police car, only spitting at reporters as he walked past them.
It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.
Mitchell was picked up near the park at 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue by three rookie police officers patrolling the area at about 7:20 p.m., hours after Wednesday's attack, Browne said.
Police initially held Mitchell on a charge of threatening a man inside Central Park on Aug. 20 as they waited to see if the woman could identify him as her attacker in Wednesday's incident.
Read more news from NBCNewYork.com
The victim in the Aug. 20 incident, a man, told police the suspect threatened him with a large knife inside the park. When police released photos of the suspect while searching for him Wednesday, the male victim recognized him as the man who threatened him several weeks ago.
Mitchell was charged with menacing in connection with the Aug. 20 incident.
Detectives requested a warrant for Mitchell's DNA as well as a warrant to view images on a digital camera memory chip they found on him. He has an extensive criminal record in Virginia and was released in March 2011 after spending about seven years in state prison on a kidnapping charge. He was acquitted of murder and sex assault charges in a separate case in 1989.
It's not clear how long Mitchell has been in New York City. He has no arrests in the city and appears to be homeless, authorities said.
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The bird-watching victim in Wednesday's attack told police she had seen her attacker before, and believed he assaulted her near Strawberry Field's Wednesday morning because he was angry she photographed him exposing himself in a more isolated area of the park a week earlier.
The woman told investigators the man asked, "Do you remember me?" before attacking her about 11 a.m. near the park's tranquil Strawberry Fields that serves as a memorial to John Lennon, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at an earlier news conference.
She said he demanded she delete the image before they went their separate ways. Police said that initial encounter was not reported.
On Wednesday, investigators spoke to Eric Ozawa, a college professor and fellow birdwatcher who had called 911, while other officers and detectives swarmed the scene in search of the suspect.
Ozawa, 34, told reporters he was in the park about 11:30 a.m. when he noticed a pair of legs sticking out along the path but thought it was somebody sleeping. As Ozawa got closer, he realized it was a woman lying face down. Her face was badly swollen, she had a black eye and was covered in mulch, he said.
Seth Wenig / AP
Police officers talk near the scene of the alleged rape of a 73-year-old birdwatcher in a heavily wooded section of Central Park in New York, Wednesday.
Still, she appeared "self-possessed and lucid," he said.
Daylight attack 'shocking'
The woman told Ozawa she had been mugged and raped, he said. He immediately called the police.
"It's shocking that it could happen in the park in broad daylight," he said. "That someone could rape somebody in her 70s."
Police blocked off much of the area near West 72nd Street and Central Park West as they hunted for a suspect described as a man in his 40s.
Complete US News coverage on NBCNews.com
NYPD via AP
This image taken from surveillance video and provided by the New York City Police Department on Wednesday shows a man believed to have mugged and sexually assaulted a 73-year-old woman in New York's Central Park.
Emily Loubaton, 29, of Brooklyn was in the park on a scavenger hunt that her company had organized.
"I think this is pretty disgusting, and so shocking it would happen on such a beautiful day in such a beautiful park," she said.
Asked if she felt less safe in Central Park, she said: "I'd like to believe that New York City has turned the corner for the better. I mean, this isn't the '70s. But it definitely makes you pause before you walk in."
Strawberry Fields was named after one of the Beatles' best-known songs, "Strawberry Fields Forever." It was officially dedicated in 1985, five years after Mark David Chapman fired five shots outside the Dakota apartment house on Dec. 8, 1980, killing Lennon.
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Leave a Comment:
New York, New York, a Hell of a town. Right? Maybe if your living on Park Avenue where Tutti buoni.
CenPark is dangerous and a haven for degenerates, rapists and gangs.
Central Park is beautiful man and NYC is a hell of a town.
Stuff can happen in all kinds of towns bro:
Wichita KS - BTK; Antioch CA - duggard kidnapper...the list could on and on for a million towns.
The number of rapes in New York City is the same rate it was in 1968. I don't know where people get that NYC is so dangerous. It's certainly one of if not the safest big city in the US. It was the safest city in 2010, which is the last year I could find statistics. This could have happened anywhere and it has.
What the hell kinds of birds was she photographing?
evidently the bird that got PO and took revenge. The article said he was masturbating and she took his pic.
the redheaded cockatiel
why is everyone shocked when cops rape and murder steal i live in small town in southern ohio cops are on the take hit on everybodys wife arrogant sons of bbbbbbbbb thieves in uniform city county state troopers all lyin stealin worthless sons of bastards
If one is masturbating in public, one should surely know someone is going to take a picture of you.
Up a real tough man! I guess he really showed that 73 year old female birdwatcher who is the boss.
He has proved to all he can not control is impulses. Keep him behind bars away from society.
It is not right that we can't walk anywhere in the USA without having these kind of things happening. It is a shame she wasn't carrying a gun.
Find the p.o.s., castrate him, and then throw him in jail for 50 years.
Then throw the mayor Bloomberg out of office for talking about sugary drinks and breast feeding instead of doing his job and protecting the people of New York.
If you're a woman, especially if you're elderly, travel in pairs.
Or, better yet...carry a pistol or take a self defense class. kick some booty, seniors!
No need to carry a pistol. Physical fitness is good but an old lady is no match for a strong and bigger male. Maze may have been useful, hanging around her neck, or a switchblade knife, very handy if the old lady knows anatomy and is aggressive enough. The best thing is to go in a group when you go bird watching in a park. Crime is everywhere.
You can't really carry a firearm in New York anyways. If you live in New York then you're basically giving up on your right to self protection. Let's face it, you have to rely on the police and elected officials to keep you safe right? Do you think your elected officials in New York are worried about crime? Or do you think your elected officials are more interested in making sure the old ladies don't get diabetes while they are raped in central park?
Of course, we know that our society will never allow the pecker to be cut-off. These criminals cannot be rehabiliated, and a waste of taxpayer's money to attempt a rehab program. He should never walk the streets again. Laws must be changed, he should receive life without paroll, and/or the death penalty to assure that he will never walk in society again.
not enough room in our prisons. In some cases, they are letting murderers out because of overpopulation, if they have been well behaved while incarcerated.
outsource them to another country to imprison them!
This article did not suprise me. We live in a world today where people are oversexed and desensitized by Pornography, violent movies and games. So many people today are stripping themselves of their innocence and becoming beasts that attack in broad daylight. There is no restriction anymore because we live in a society of total acceptance of everything and anything that we feel we should be able to do and claim that it is protected by the First Amendment. We are now at the beginning of the detruction of our once great nation, because we turned our backs on God.
You realize that God may have been the original pevert, don't you...think about it...Adam and Eve to start it all? Who did their kids procreate with - that's right, their brother/sister or mom/dad. What about the next generation - their cousins or brother/sister or mom/dad/aunt/uncle.
So, according to the Bible, God was promoting incest pretty much right off the bat.
Seattlegirl, you are so very wrong. The number of rapes has steadily decreased in the US over time. A 60% decrease since 1993 alone. It sounds like you think rape is a new invention. It has been used as an instrument of war and oppression since the beginning of time. It was pretty much accepted in your revered Bible where in Deuteronomy it tells men to kidnap any woman he takes a fancy to and force her into marriage and rape. Or maybe in Exodus where a father sells his daughter into sexual slavery. Or in Samuel where God himself delivers David's wives to his neighbor for public rape and then kills his baby.
Need I go on? Get over this garbage that life used to be better. It was no fairytale. Religion does not equal morality.
Jennj99738, I totally agree. Considering women aren't as afraid to report a rape as in the past where women would be shamed and blamed for it, what seattlegirl-5919678 makes no sense, or we would see the number of rapes steadily on the rise.
So many biblical scholars with zero degree intelligence
Why is anyone shocked that rapes happen? They happen all of the time. In online chats men threaten to rape each other and brag about raping (whether they've actually done it or not) It's become culturally acceptable to threaten to stick things in people.
bad boy bad boy watcha u gonna do? watcha u gonna do when they come for u? and they will come for ya, you disgusting excuse for a man.
Rape is an everyday occurance in New York.
Rape is about violence , anger and control. It is not about sex, so an old lady made this guy mad and he beat her and raped her. Pretty predictable and typical. Nothing new here. She is lucky he did not kill her.
@CHUCK .. you and a few others on this subject are real jerks! What if is was your family member??? I agree with MAXWELL .. YOU need to have your pecker put somewhere like cement and have it stay there, or better yet, since you and others think this is funny for whatever reason, we can take all of you jerks or media whores down to the local jail or prison and have you all tell them how funny you think rape is. Then we can let them have their way with you all and see who's laughing after you can not sit or talk for a week .. if you know what I mean!!
From the tone of your rant, I see no angel but a controlling and one sided bully. Chill and get an education. It pays off.
Hey ccangel, guess who did get enough prayer in their lives? That's right, priests. Now, I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm willing to bet you the JED7 has not molested any little boys, so maybe some people need less prayer in their lives?
As for your big, capitalized "one nation under God", well, that wasn't even added to the pledge until America had to sell the Cold War and some politicians needed to make sure we were the ones 'under God'.
So, I guess you want people of every religious sect to be able to pray in schools? Or is it only the one you follow? I'm guessin only the one you follow, cause you'd go friggin ballistic if there was Muslim prayer time in a school here in the USA, wouldn't you?
As for when "the lord comes back'....hahahahhahah...He should worry about cleaning up his house first - you know, the one where His people, the ones preaching his word, were brutally raping young boys and having it covered up by His organization, which protected, sheltered and moved these 'men' around so they could continue their pattern of sexual abuse. Or that His church is horribly rich while millions in the world starve and are homeless. Or that His church is trying to legislate free will - which is the one thing He gave us so he could judge.
cccangel (otherwise known as "Hissy-fit")
Who are you to tell ANYONE how and what they should do, believe, or think? Do you wear the robes of your god, or sit on that fancy throne you tell us "heretics" about? Did your god give you a free-pass to insult other people because they don't happen to follow your (however misguided) beliefs?
Next time you have a thought or idea....pass on it, trust me.
Those of us with brains and our own opinions don't want to hear it.
Wow. I've never met anyone so perfect before...must be tough being you.
Oh, and have a good day.
Did you see the pic of the "alleged" rapist with his camping equipment on his back ? He is on surveillance video. He is evidently camping in the park, likely living there. I guess a guy who is homeless and felt intruded upon by the bird watcher. He seems fit, very strong and angry. An ex military maybe ?
Leave the the profiling to Mariska Hargitay...
Listen, Slappy, oh so sorry that the rape and mugging of a 70 year old woman ruined yer fabulous day. I mean, who does this poor old lady think she is getting raped and almost killed while you're enjoying such a beautiful day! Stop the World!!
Really hope this 'disgusting' event didn't also ruin yer night as well.
Maybe you should go into the shop and have them do a diagnostic on that emotion chip you call a brain sometime soon. I mean...Thee hopes yer gonna be ok through all this.
Not Yer Pal Ever,
Thee
I get your comment. Very well said. Got a smile out of me.....
I'm hoping this piece of garbage is caught and then I think someone should behead him!!!
The people of New York are idiots because they elect people like Bloomberg. Is Bloomberg out there talking about preventing crimes like rape and murder? No. Mayor Bloomberg is telling stores to quit selling large sugary drinks and telling hospitals to force new mothers to breast feed..
Is this really what a mayor should be talking about? Cokes and breast feeding while people are raped and murdered in his town? New Yorkers are a bunch of dumba@@es who vote in the most idiotic people.
masturbating in the park? wasn't there any gay guys around to take care of that for him? geez how groce.
Seriously? You are a sick creep!
Let's review: You are exposing yourself in the park, masturbating in public, and when someone takes a picture of you, you become angry.
Moron...expose yourself in the privacy of your own home, and masturbate when nobody is running around with a camera. Then to compound your stupidity, you beat and rape a senior citizen. Thereby assuring that you will be arrested, taken to the police station and (brace yourself) photographed against your will.
How about some justice? Put the insane back in an asylum. We had asylums, but we let the crazy out into the public. Great idea. How's that working?
They should start castrating rapists and pedophiles with out anesthesia in public view. Putting them in jail and going through a trial is a waste of tax dollars and traumatizing to the victims. Rape is a heinous act of violence that deserves a very severe punishment.
Maybe the "birdwatcher" should not have shown so much interest in his "bird"....I hope they catch the nasty pecker...
I once remember reading about "Benjamin Franklin" who, when writing about 'masterbation' coined the phrase----"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!!"
What kind of piece of filth rapes anyone, let alone a 73 year old grandmother? Sick, disgusting pervert who ought to be exterminated.
Why was she photographing this guy masturbating in the first place when she was suppose to be watching birds? And why would she be using a camera anyway? Birdwatchers normally use binoculars to watch birds, not cameras. I think this woman was engaged in voyeurism, and, unfortunately, got caught peeping at the wrong person. The fact that she caught this guy masturbating a week ago, like she said, leads me to suspect that she was tracking this guy down to see if she could see him in action again.