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Woman Choked, Raped On Early Morning Jog In New York City: Police

Crime scene tape in woods. This image does not depict the incident mentioned in story [Shutterstock Fer Gregory]

[Shutterstock Fer Gregory]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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A New York City woman was raped, choked and robbed Thursday in the West Village while on a run, according to the New York Post (NYP), which cited authorities.

The 43-year-old unidentified victim was jogging along Pier 45 near West and Christopher street around 5:30 a.m., when a man grabbed her from behind and choked her, prompting the woman to fall unconscious, police reportedly said.

The suspect then stripped the victim and raped her before stealing her wallet, debit card, cell phone and headphones and fleeing on a Citi Bike, the NYP reported. The victim was reportedly left shoeless and bloodied in the face and elbows, authorities and a witness said.

“She was in workout clothes but they were kind of torn up, they were dirty, she wasn’t wearing any shoes, she was just wearing one sock,” Gabrielle Sumkin, who was on a run before she stumbled across the victim said, according to the NYP. (RELATED: As Crime Surges, Mayor Adams And NYPD Say Repeat Offenders Are To Blame)

“She was like holding her eye … This woman seemed like she was legitimately very hurt and it was clear that something had happened to her,” Sumkin reportedly said.

“She was just kind of saying, ‘I need help, I need help,” the woman told the NYP. “She had like clearly been through physical trauma.”

“She was very despondent, she couldn’t even really say anything, she couldn’t even think of anyone off the top of her head obviously that she’d want me to call,” Sumkin reportedly said.

Sumkin called authorities and waited for police to arrive. The unidentified victim was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital and is in stable condition, according to the report.

Authorities took a 29-year-old homeless man into custody after he used the victim’s credit card at a Target in midtown though he’s reportedly yet to be charged.

The suspect was also wanted in connection with at least two other sex crimes, the NYP reported. The suspect allegedly sexually assaulted another jogger on Pier 40 in March and tried to rape a third woman in October, according to The Post.