A 19-year-old blind woman was raped Wednesday night by a man who offered to guide her after she got off at the wrong subway stop in Queens, New York the police said Friday.
The woman, who can see only bright lights and some colors, and walks with a white cane, got off at the Jamaica Center stop on the E line about 8pm.
She had mistakenly passed the stop she wanted, also in Jamaica.
missed stop
The police said that she told them that a man came up and asked her, "Are you lost?" and "Do you need help?"
She told him she needed to get back to the stop that she had missed.
The man said that he was going to escort her to an elevator in the station, but instead guided her to a dark, shadowy area and held a sharp object to her neck.
He said, "Don't be frightened, I won't hurt you," according to the police, before pinning her against a wall and raping her.
The man then fled.
A woman later approached the victim and helped her get back on the E train to her intended stop.
The woman told her roommate what had occurred and the roommate called the police about 24 hours after the rape, the police said.
identification
She was taken to a hospital, where doctors said she had suffered injury to her pelvic area.
The police said that the woman estimated her assailant to be about 5-foot-5.
Even without witnesses, detectives said they were hopeful that they might be able to identify the attacker, using a DNA sample from the medical exam performed at the hospital.
A detective who was involved in the case also said that there is a good chance that the videotape from surveillance cameras at the station may yield a photograph of the suspect.
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