New York – 4 Teens In Custody In Alleged Group Rape At Brooklyn Playground

Brooklyn, NY – Four teenagers have been taken into police custody in connection with an alleged group rape of an 18-year-old woman at a Brooklyn playground.

Police said Sunday two teens surrendered and two were apprehended. Charges are pending against a 14-year-old, 17-year-old and two 15-year-olds.

A fifth suspect is still being sought.

Authorities say the woman was accosted just after 9 p.m. Thursday as she and her father walked inside Osborn Playground.

Police say one of the five suspects pointed a gun at the father and told him to leave.

Authorities say each of the five raped the woman. The father returned with two police officers, but the attackers had fled.

Earlier today, City Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo condemned the attack and called on residents to cooperate with police investigators.

“When an 18-year-old girl can get raped while walking with her father in a park by five men in Brownsville, New York, we have hit an all-time moral low in the City of New York,” she said.

Cumbo, chair of the council’s Committee on Women’s Issues, seized the occasion to criticize NYPD Commissioner William Bratton.

“To add insult to injury, NYPD Commissioner Bratton’s response to the escalation of violence against women in cabs was for women to utilize the ‘buddy system,’ ” she said.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams released a statement saying he was “sickened” by reports of the attack and called on the New York Police Department to conduct a full investigation “not only to identify all those responsible for this horrific attack, but also to determine if everything possible was done to protect the victim and the public.”

An NYPD police spokesman said there was no delay in the police response.

“A patrol car from the 73rd Precinct was approached on the street and told about the attack by the victim’s father, who directed the officers to the scene,” police spokesman Stephen Davis said.

“The police officers immediately responded and located the victim,” Davis said. “The suspects had already fled.”

Adams on Sunday also questioned why the police waited until Saturday night, 48 hours later, to alert the public of the crime when it released surveillance video they said showed the men in a bodega before the alleged incident.

Davis said the commanding officer of the precinct began contacting local community leaders about the alleged rape on Friday.