A 43-year-old woman told police she had been sexually assaulted on a morning run on the West Side Highway in Manhattan, New York.
The woman, who remains unidentified, said the incident happened around 5:45 am as she was jogging near Pier 45 at Christopher Street and West Street in Greenwich Village. A man came up behind her, grabbed her, knocked her to the ground, and started choking her.
The New York Police Department said that the man then proceeded to rape her, after which he stole her wallet, phone, and headphones and fled the scene on foot.
She was seen by another jogger who immediately called 911.
The New York Police Department identified the accused rapist as a homeless man, Carl Phanor, 29, and announced Thursday that they had arrested him for the jogger’s rape. Police said they caught him when he tried to use the woman’s credit card at a Target in Midtown Manhattan.
Target employees told authorities that Phanor came into the store reeking of alcohol and that he asked them where he could find a Redbull.
Gabrielle Sumkin, the jogger, who witnessed the victim’s condition after the incident, called 911. She said she was jogging on the usual running route she took every morning when she noticed the disoriented woman. She said that the victim, who looked like she was in distress, had blood on her elbows and her hands and that she had covered her eyes with one bloody hand.
The 23-year-old witness said the victim struggled to get the words out of her mouth. The distressed woman kept repeating that she needed help while Sumkin was making the 911 call.
It was only when Sumkin watched the news later that day that she discovered what the woman she helped had been through. She said that she wanted to respect the woman’s privacy and not press her about the details of what had happened to her. She left immediately after the police got to the scene.
Carl Phanor, the main suspect in two other rape cases, was arrested by the police at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The police were searching for Phanor in connection with two similar rape incidents in Manhattan this year.
The most recent case was on October 6, when a 48-year-old woman accused Phanor of putting her in a chokehold and attempting to assault her sexually. The incident happened on the FDR Drive near East 37th Street at around 5 am.
Luckily, the 48-year-old lady managed to fight him off, but he robbed her of her wallet and mobile phone and then quickly left on his bicycle. Phanor then tried to use her credit card at a Manhattan smoke shop.
An earlier sexual assault incident happened on March 27, and the suspect allegedly attacked a 39-year-old woman. The incident occurred at Pier 40, around Clarkson and West Street, where Phanor snuck up behind the woman at around 6 am, pushed her to the ground, and started choking her. He then raped the poor woman and stole her phone before fleeing on his bike.
Carl Phanor has been charged with several crimes, including strangulation, sexual assault, sexually motivated robbery, grand theft, and committing a criminal sex act. According to the police, his criminal record has 18 prior arrests.