[UPDATE] Teen Sexually Assaulted In Park Slope/Gowanus Area Park

Prospect Park woods (Photo: BKLYNER)

[UPDATED: 10:30am, Monday, August 21, 2017] The NYPD says that officers identified and spoke with the man they were seeking in the surveillance video released last week. He is no longer a person of interest in this case.

The man was cooperative with officers, gave a DNA sample, and has since been released, a police representative told BKLYNER Monday morning.

The investigation is ongoing as police search for the suspect who lured an autistic teen girl into Prospect Park and raped her last Wednesday, August 16, according to the New York Daily News.

The 17-year-old got lost for several hours on her way home from school last Wednesday after she got off at the wrong bus stop, the paper reports.

The suspect approached her, led her to Prospect Park where he raped her, then walked her to Methodist Hospital where he left her at the chapel at approximately 1am Thursday morning.

A hospital worker alerted police after the victim told the employee what had happened.

Park Slope – The NYPD is requesting the public’s assistance in finding the man seen in the above video who they say sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl within the confines of the 78th Precinct. The 78th Precinct covers Park Slope and includes Prospect Park and parts of Gowanus and Prospect Heights.

Police say they responded to a call at Methodist Hospital where the victim walked to on Thursday, August 17 at approximately 1am. She said earlier that night she was approached by an unidentified man in a park who sexually assaulted her before fleeing in an unknown direction, according to police.

The victim did not know the name of the park where the incident occurred, according to a police representative. She is listed in stable condition.

The suspect is described as a black male, last seen wearing a red shirt, beige pants, white sneakers, and a grey cap.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.