On Saturday police released surveillance video of the group entering a nearby bodega before Thursday's attack in the unlocked Osborn Playground. The father of the victim went into the store during the attack to call police but was not helped. He was later able to flag down a passing patrol car who responded to the scene.
Brooklyn
By Geoffrey Croft
The police have four of the five teen suspects wanted in Thursday night's gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in Osborn Playground.
The teens, a 14-year-old, 17-year-old and two 15-year-olds have been in police custody since last night.
Two of the boys were brought in by their parents. Police apprehended two others. Charges are pending. A fifth suspect remains at large.
Police released surveillance footage on Saturday night showing the suspects in a nearby bodega.
At a press conference on Sunday Brooklyn politicians blasted the NYPD for waiting two days before informing the public about the rape.
Borough President Eric Adams, a former New York City police captain, charged the public would have been immediately notified had the rape occurred in Central Park instead of Osborn Playground in crime-ridden Brownsville.
“The imperative to catch those people shouldn’t matter if the park is Osborn [Playground] or Central Park
” he said. “The same level of urgency must be followed.”
“The N.Y.P.D. should have reported this immediately ” Mr. Adams said. “You can’t have a crime of this magnitude and this level of savage behavior and not have the residents of that area become aware of what happened.”
A Walk In The Park first posted the story at 6:17 on Friday night, several news outlets however said when they called DCPI to confirm the story they refused to.
Playground Not Locked
The Parks Department, who has a legal responsibility to lock playgrounds at dusk, has not yet answered why the playground was unlocked at that hour.
The sad fact is this incident would not have occurred in the playground had they done their job.
Unfortunately this is not the first time an incident like this has happened. In 2002 a 23-year-old woman was gang raped in Brooklyn’s Lincoln Terrace Park in a bathroom which was supposed to be locked at night. Her nephew was held in an adjasent bathroom stall during the attack.
On Sunday the Borough President also noted that the playground is “nearly pitch-black at night with no working lampposts.”
Mutliple media outlets have also focused on the lack of working safety lights in the playground.
It is the Parks Department’s job to inspect the lights and the Department of Transportation to repair them after they are notified.
The Parks Department has not answered if there were light outage reports at the playground.
"We must be proactively aggressive to keep women safe including better lighting and design of public spaces like Osborn Playground," Mr. Adams said.
New York Times - January 10, 2016 - By Benjamin Mueller and Nate Schweber
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