Police have caught a rapist who choked and dragged a Bronx woman with a belt in an attack caught on video

Police have arrested the man seen on horrific video throwing a belt around a woman’s neck and dragging her down a Bronx street, then sexually assaulting her between two parked cars, officials said Saturday with.

Kashaan Parks, 39, was nabbed Saturday morning at a relative’s home in the Bronx, a police source familiar with the case said. Criminal charges were pending.

Parks was caught on video helping his 45-year-old victim around 3 a.m. May 1 on E. 152nd St. near Courtlandt Ave. in Melrose as he threw a loop belt around the woman’s neck and pulled her to the ground before pulling her up between two parked cars.

The woman’s hands clutched her neck and tried to free herself from the belt, the video shows.

During questioning, the woman helped police identify Parks as her attacker, NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said at a briefing Friday. The two knew each other from the area, he said.

Parks was identified in part by a noticeable gap in his teeth, Kenny said.

“Our victim stated that he had seen him before,” Kenny said. “She actually described his teeth to us. He has unusual teeth. He has a gap between his teeth.”

Ironically, Parks was wearing a GAP sweatshirt during the attack. Shortly before attacking his victim, he covered his distinctive shirt and his easily recognizable grill with a white towel.

“He said nothing. I didn’t see him coming behind me. I didn’t notice him,” his distraught victim told the Daily News on Friday when he was found near the crime scene. A hat partially covered a nasty purple bruise on her left eye. “I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t speak or say anything. The shock.”

The victim was on her way to a friend’s house when she was attacked. She took herself to Lincoln Hospital for treatment the next day, but did not report the incident to police until someone at a nearby residence posted the video online more than a week later, Kenny said.

“She never reports the incident,” Kenny said. “(Then) she gets arrested for petty theft and the whole thing comes to life.”

By the time the woman was arrested, officers had already seen the video and were trying to figure out what happened, Kenny said. No one in the building alerted police to the attack before the video was released, a police source familiar with the case said.

“(The video) is going viral. We become aware of this and are trying to figure out where this video came from, and lo and behold, someone from the 40th Precinct said, ‘Wait a minute, she’s under arrest.’ She was arrested for petty theft and she’s downstairs right now.’

“She then tells us what happened,” Kenny said.

Police say Parks has been arrested five times, all for theft of service and turnstile jumping.

The two met earlier that night, but the victim never learned his name, Kenny said. Police were investigating the possibility that Parks had paid her for sex earlier that evening.

“Either way she is a victim of sexual abuse,” Kenny said.

The parks remained relaxed on Saturday. Police ask anyone with information about the park’s whereabouts to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls are treated confidentially.