The mother of a married suspect who was allegedly caught on surveillance video strangling and raping a woman on a New York City street May 1 stayed up all night to get her son to turn himself in to the police, The New York Post reported Saturday.
“I’m his mother that turned him in. I’m the one that facilitated him being arrested,” Beverly Parks, 56, claimed to the outlet. Parks was referring to her son, Kashaan Parks, 39, the outlet reported.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced Saturday that detectives of the NYPD Special Victims Unit in the Bronx arrested Kashaan Parks. The NYPD declared Kashaan Parks wanted for rape Friday, alleging he “approached [a 45-year-old female] from behind, wrapped an object around her neck, and pulled her to the ground causing her to lose consciousness. The male then dragged the victim between two cars and sexually assaulted her before fleeing on foot.” The incident occurred at 5 a.m. May 1 around East 152 Street and Third Avenue in the Bronx, the NYPD stated.
Thanks to the hard work of our Bronx @NYPDSVU Detectives, Kashaan Parks has been arrested and charged. https://t.co/LwOCy7hqQX
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 11, 2024
A graphic video of the incident appeared to show a masked man throwing a noose around a passing female pedestrian’s neck, tightening it and dragging the woman in between two parked cars as the woman went limp. The man glanced furtively around as he allegedly bent over the woman, whose legs remained unmoving from between the two cars, the video appeared to show. (RELATED: Viral Sexual Assault Video Shows Horrific Moment Masked Man Lassos Woman’s Neck With A Belt, Dragging Her Behind Cars)
Oh wow NYPD, I’m sure we can do better than a still shot pic.twitter.com/HdgVfu6u5G
— George (@j0rgeaquino) May 10, 2024
Beverly Parks claimed Kashaan Parks’s wife told her over the phone that her husband had choked and raped a woman, according to The New York Post.
“I found out about this yesterday morning at 5:12 am, and I’ve been trying to get my son to do the right thing ever since. And I did,” Beverly Parks claimed to the outlet.
Kashaan Parks faces first-degree rape, assault, strangulation, sex abuse, public lewdness and harassment charges for the incident, the outlet reported.
Kashaan Parks, reportedly unemployed and a father of two, had allegedly been drinking and recently using drugs since learning of his father’s death in a hospital in Belize, Beverly Parks claimed to the outlet.
“He … had a one-year-old baby. It’s not like he was walking the street committing crimes and doing this,” the mother told The New York Post. “I had my son go be accountable for his actions, no matter that he was drunk, that he was on drugs, that he was grieving. He did something wrong and he has to deal with it. Period.”
Kashaan Parks and his family reportedly moved back to New York from his wife’s parents’ home in North Carolina just before the alleged rape. “That’s why this was such a shock,” Beverly Parks claimed to The New York Post.
The NYPD previously arrested Kashaan Parks for allegedly assaulting a 46-year-old female Bronx resident and for boarding a bus without paying, the outlet reported.
Some commenters, replying to the NYPD on X (formerly Twitter), expressed skepticism the suspect would remain in police custody.
“I’m a woman, and I am sorry that this happened to this person,” Beverly Parks claimed to the New York Post. “I have to open and close my eyes every day, and ask God to make sure this person is okay and for forgiveness for my son. Whatever she has to live with, I am going to have to think about that for the rest of my life.”
