Police arrest ‘suspects’ in connection with sexual assault on 13-year-old girl in Queens Park

NEW YORK – An Ecuadorian migrant was taken into custody for the gruesome sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in a Queens park, police sources said.

The suspect, who entered the United States through Eagle Pass, Texas, in June 2021, was brought in for questioning around 1:30 a.m. after a group of Good Samaritans recognized him as the suspected perpetrator of the attack Thursday afternoon. Charges were not immediately filed.

Police zeroed in on the suspect after someone recognized him in surveillance images police released Monday and called 911. Police responded to a one-bedroom apartment near the corner of Waldorn St. and 108th St. in Corona — about three miles from Kissena Corridor Park in Flushing, where he allegedly threatened and raped a girl at knifepoint.

Several people at the SRO tried to stop the suspect, which led to a fight.

The suspect suffered bumps and bruises in the fight and was taken to a nearby hospital for observation.

The police describe the arrested man as a “person of high interest”.

The victim was playing soccer in the park with a 13-year-old schoolmate when the tattooed suspect approached her at around 3:30 p.m., police said.

He ordered them to follow him into a dense wooded area off the beaten path near Colden St. and Kalmia Ave. When the children refused, he pulled out a “large machete knife” and forced them into the woods, NYPD Criminal Investigation Chief Joseph Kenny said at a news conference Friday.

In a remote group of trees, the attacker tied the children’s wrists with a shoelace and abused the girl.

He then stole the two children’s cell phones and ran away.

Police were quickly mobilized and released sketches of the suspect as well as a distinctive tattoo of a wild boar on his chest.

Investigators expanded their search of surrounding streets and obtained surveillance video showing the suspect leaving the scene on a bicycle.

They were able to get the footage back after Kenny vowed on Friday to “search miles for a video.”

“This incident is every parent’s nightmare,” NYPD Commissioner Jeffrey Maddrey said Friday. “The entire community should be very dismayed by this and ready to help the police solve this problem.”

Visitors to Kissena Corridor Park, a narrow green space that connects Flushing Meadows-Corona Park with Kissena Park, said over the weekend that they were avoiding the heavily wooded areas, especially in the evenings.

“I don’t normally walk here at night,” a park visitor who identified herself only as Grace told the Daily News as she looked at a wanted poster by the side of the road. “That would be crazy.”

Grace, 77, was shocked by the news of the attack and said: “It hurts my heart.”

“How old is the girl? 13?” she added. “We can’t trust (anyone). We have to be careful.”

According to recent statistics from the NYPD, there were two robberies and one assault in Kissena Corridor Park through March 31. Last year, there were four robberies, two assaults and one grand theft in Kissena Corridor Park, according to police.

In the foreseeable future, the NYPD plans to increase patrols, deploy drones, and install cameras in the park.

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