A man sneaked into a Williamsburg apartment and tried to rape a woman sleeping inside, police said.
The suspect, who cops describe as between 5-foot 4-inches and 5-foot 7-inches and wearing a white shirt with a design on the shoulder, allegedly broke into the home of a 21-year-old woman who lives near Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg at 12:25 am on Sept. 8.
The woman woke up to find the man on top of her and fought him off until he eventually jumped out the window and ran away, cops said. The woman suffered minor injuries, according to police.
Rape is a notoriously under-reported type of violent crime, with less than half of victims calling the police and two-thirds of rapes being committed by someone known to the victim, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. But Williamsburg and Greenpoint have seen a sharp rise in sexual assaults, with a total of 25 reported rapes so far this year, up from 13 this time last year, according to police statistics, and those have included several high-profile attacks by strangers.
In November, police arrested a man for allegedly following a woman into her Williamsburg apartment and raping her. In June, a man raped a woman at knifepoint on Java Street between Manhattan Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint. And last month, a man was arrested after allegedly going on a two and a half-hour home invasion and rape spree in Greenpoint.
The police department is offering $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the alleged would-be rapist and the anti-crime group Crime Stoppers is chipping in an additional $2,000.
Anyone with information about the crime should call cops at (800) 577–8477 or text information to 274637, then enter TIP577.
