A homeless man who is known to frequent an Upper East Side park has been arrested for an attempted rape near Gracie Mansion, police said Tuesday.
Quincy Burks, 30, was taken into custody about 6:45 p.m. Monday for the attack on a 19-year-old woman at East End Ave. and E. 90th St. in Yorkville, cops said.
Burks, who is known to frequent Carl Shurz Park where Gracie Mansion is located, is accused of jumping the young victim at 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning
He allegedly threw the woman to the ground, molested her, and was about to rape her when hero doorman Hector Mateo scared him away.
“I just heard the cries, somebody screaming in the middle of the night,” Mateo, 44, told the Daily News Saturday. “It was horrific.”
Mateo grabbed his flashlight and stepped out of his building to investigate. A few seconds later, he saw the attacker running from the scene.
“He came out of the shadows running really fast,” Mateo recalled. “I tried to chase him but he had a good lead on me.”
Mateo helped the woman to her feet and brought her to his post where they waited for cops to arrive. She was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell for treatment and observation.
“She was in shock and scared and crying,” Mateo said. “I hope that she’s doing well today and that she recovers.”
The attacker got away Saturday but cops recovered surveillance images of him near the scene. As they searched the area, they learned he was a homeless man often seen in the park.
On Monday evening, cops spotted him in the park near the water. He was charged with attempted rape, sex abuse, and forcible touching. It was his first arrest in New York City, police said.
His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Tuesday.
Saturday’s attack took place within three blocks of Mayor Adams’ residence at Gracie Mansion. It also came three weeks after a bloody murder-suicide in a custody battle occurred in the same neighborhood.
On July 26, Kathleen Leigh, a 65-year-old retired probation officer from Chicago fatally shot her grandchild’s mother, Marisa Galloway, on E. 88th St. near York Ave. before turning her gun on herself.
Cops responding to the 8:50 a.m. shooting found a note from Leigh, detailing the older woman’s battle with cancer and suspicions that Galloway was abusing her granddaughter — claims child service workers previously determined were unfounded.
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