Posted on 12/21/2002 1:12:47 AM PST by kattracks
On a desolate fringe of a Queens park, a gang of homeless men set upon a woman and dragged her into their squalid encampment, raping her for two hours while cops mounted a frantic search.The 42-year-old victim finally was rescued when a police dog picked up her scent, tracked her to the hobo jungle and sank his teeth into one of the men who brutalized her, authorities said.
"It is a horrendous crime," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said as the five assailants were booked on kidnapping, robbery, rape and sodomy charges.
The attack occurred at 10 p.m. Thursday at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, on a deserted pedestrian path linking Shea Stadium and the National Tennis Center.
Sitting on a bench, the woman and a male friend were jumped by a band of what police called homeless Mexican immigrants who beat and robbed them.
The mob then grabbed the woman and pulled her down a flight of stairs leading to a Long Island Rail Road platform, across the tracks and deep into the woods.
Amid the thick brush, the men had put up several shacks patched together from wood, cardboard and plastic - described by one investigator as human "bird's nests."
The huts were filled with old mattresses and piles of garbage. They were so filthy that one cop said he planned to throw out his shoes after stepping inside.
In one of the ramshackle shelters - impossible to see from even a short distance - the men took turns beating and raping the woman.
Her friend had raced off, found a passerby with a cell phone and called police, who quickly swarmed the park.
For two hours, cops searched the sprawling grounds with dogs for a trace of the woman and her captors.
At one point, electricity on the LIRR tracks was shut off so cops could cross over into the thick brush on the other side.
'Dog went nuts'
As police closed in, two of the suspects, Victor Cruz, 22, and Jose Hernandez, 18, ran out of the woods and were captured.
A 10-year-old German shepherd named Sean and his handler, Officer Kim Flechaus, were the first to reach the shack where the victim was held.
"It was awful. We couldn't find her, and then the dog went nuts," one investigator said.
The bloodied woman, naked from the waist down, apparently heard the cops and bolted. She told them one of her attackers was still inside.
The dog was sent in, and he ripped into suspect Louis Carmona, 20, authorities said. After a brief standoff, the dog then pulled Carlos Rodriguez, 22, and Jesus Torres, 28, from a second shanty nearby.
"God bless Sean. He did a hell of a job," a police official said.
Three of the five suspects were treated at the hospital for dog bites.
When they were led out of the 110th Precinct stationhouse last night, they wore only hospital gowns because their clothes were seized for evidence. Shivering, they tried to cover their faces as they walked past.
The viciousness of the assault recalled the 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park, which ended with the convictions of five teens being tossed out Thursday. Convicted killer Matias Reyes confessed to the crime.
Another group attack
"This is eerily similar to the whole Central Park thing," an NYPD source said. "Everyone is crossing the T's and dotting the I's to make sure history does not repeat itself."
The gang rape also bore similarities to a group attack on a Brooklyn woman this month in Lincoln Terrace Park in Crown Heights. Those assailants are still at large.
In Flushing, Queens, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officer told the Daily News that homeless encampments near the unused LIRR tracks are a persistent problem.
Cops regularly sweep through and knock them down, only to see them rebuilt elsewhere.
Rapes in the 110th Precinct are down 23% this year from last year - and Kelly said it wasn't clear whether more security was needed.
"We're always evaluating that issue," he said.
NO!
Excellent idea. Also a direct satellite TV feed to Mexico on their Entertainment Channel ;-)
Good dogs need continous training, so what better way to award them than letting them gnaw on their intended targets for a while.
As for doing my part to support the K-9 officers, when I sold my previous motorcycle, we agreed to $3000... then, just before he wrote them amount on the check, I took off 10%... $100 for being a Marine, $100 for being a cop, and $100 for his dog. I just told him that my father, a Marine, retired detective, and dog-trainer, would have beat me senseless if I didn't. =^)
Got a match?
Need one per perp. No waiting.
How dare these police officers take the word of a confidential informant and violate the civil rights of these poor men?
Bitten by vicious police dogs yet.
I hope they sue and they win so much money they change the name of New York to Nuevo Barrioso.
How long will we stand idly by and let these police thugs violate our civil rights? NYPD has a history of this.
Great bio.
Second, I sincerely hope that these scum get what they so richly deserve but given the Queens DA I doubt that they will serve any really hard time. Had either of these two people shot their attackers they would face more time than any of these vermin. The New City DA's are far more concerned about prosecuting a dad protecting his son from a burgler with an "unregistered" handgun than in stopping this sort of crime.
Third, I am surprised a fund hasn't been started to provide for these vermin's families to be with them. This is NYC we are talking about after all.
As to your border suggestion about the mines we both know it will not happen to be honest we can not even get our laws partially enforced. The arrest some illegal aliens in LA and the howls from the liberal who wish to force everyone into a suicide pact are deafening.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
We need to have one language ENGLISH and if you can't speak it you DO NOT BELONG HERE!
FYI Robert Chambers, the preppie killer is getting out on Feb 14th. Since he served his entire sentance ( mostly in solitary because he was bad in prison) he wont even be supervised by parole. NO PAROLE!
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