A 19-year-old woman who said she was raped last month in Riverside Park around 95th Street “wasn’t credible,” said Deputy Inspector Nancy Barry, the commander of the 24th Precinct, at a community meeting on Wednesday night. The NYPD’s Special Victims Unit dropped the case, said Barry, after we asked her for an update at the meeting.
“They determined that it didn’t happen.”
We had attempted to get more information after the crime was initially reported, but were unable to get details from the NYPD’s central communications office.
The rape was reported at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday, September 3 right near the popular Dinosaur Playground in Riverside Park. A source had told CBS News that the woman had been arguing with her boyfriend and then walked deeper into the park, where the boyfriend later found her on the ground near the playground. She claimed to have been raped.
The news raised additional concerns among some of our readers because two new homeless shelters had just opened about a block away, and major crimes have been up in the precinct this year.
The meeting where Barry spoke was a town hall forum organized by the group Neighborhood in the Nineties to address the homeless shelter and other quality of life issues. We’ll have more on the meeting tomorrow.
For our original story on the rape report, click here.
Photo of the crime scene courtesy of Geoffrey Croft.
The war on men continues, media edition.