A woman was sexually assaulted at knifepoint in Central Park on Saturday night, police said.
The attack occurred near East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue around 8:30 p.m., according to the NYPD. The suspect, described as wearing a black sweatshirt, black pants, and carrying a black backpack, approached the woman while brandishing a knife before assaulting her inside the park.
The victim was transported to an area hospital and is listed in stable condition. No arrests had been made as of Saturday night, and police did not release additional details about the ongoing investigation.
The assault left residents of the upscale Manhattan neighborhood shaken. Davis Defore, 30, told The Post he had been walking his dog Harlow in the same area shortly before the attack unfolded. “I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ It’s literally that same path. I let Harlow out in the field right there to go play,” he recalled.
Defore expressed heightened concern for safety in what he described as a typically secure part of the city. “It’s very concerning for a very great area of New York City, and I’m uneasy with my fiancé walking her dog at night,” he said.
Valentina Mizrahi, 30, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2021, said she had never previously felt frightened in the area. However, she revealed that her mother had recently cautioned her against walking alone after dark following a conversation with a nearby hotel doorman. “Because it gets ugly,” Mizrahi said, relaying the warning she received.
The Saturday night assault marked a violent incident in a section of Central Park that borders some of Manhattan’s most affluent blocks. The area around East 67th Street and Fifth Avenue sits near the park’s zoo and several luxury residential buildings.
Police continued searching for the armed suspect Saturday night, releasing only the description of his clothing and backpack. The investigation remained active with no further information immediately available about potential leads or whether surveillance footage had been recovered from the vicinity.
The attack drew fresh attention to safety in city parks during evening hours, particularly in areas long perceived as secure. For residents like Defore and Mizrahi, the incident disrupted a sense of security built over years of uneventful routines in the neighborhood.