NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The suspect in a robbery and sexual assault on the Upper East Side tried to give money back to his victim.
As CBS2’s Valerie Castro reported, a woman was on her way to work when she was grabbed from behind, put in a chokehold, thrown to the ground, groped, and robbed.
The attack happened on 94th Street between Second and Third avenues.
At first, the suspect seemed intent on terrorizing his victim, until he told her he felt bad about what he had done.
Surveillance footage shows the man who workers at the M and M Market on the Upper East Side said attacked the 36-year-old woman over the weekend.
Police sources said she was walking west on 94th Street early Saturday morning, on her way to work, when the man attacked her and demanded money.
He allegedly sexually assaulted her and took $50 in cash. After an apparent moment of guilt he tried to give the money back to her and said that he felt bad, allegedly saying, “Have a nice day,” as he walked away.
The victim ran down 94th Street to the market where an employee said she asked him to call police.
Surveillance footage shows a man walk in less than a minute later and begin talking to the clerk.
The clerk said the man claimed he was looking for his wife.
“He said, ‘Where is my wife?’ I said, ‘what?’ He said, ‘Where is my wife?’ I say, ‘I don’t know, where is your wife?'” store clerk Luis Luna said.
Luna said the man eventually left. The woman is a regular customer who knows the layout of the store. She hid in a storage area until the man left.
Other women in the area said they had felt safe, until now.
“Yeah, I walk this way a lot at night and it scares me to know that someone was attacked,” Emily Bird said.
“People say the Upper East Side is like a safe area, so I don’t know,” Eleonara Racca added.
