Tourist Sexually Assaulted During Harlem Robbery, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — Police are searching for a man who brutally assaulted and robbed a tourist in Harlem early Thursday morning, an NYPD spokesman told Patch.

The tourist, a 31-year-old woman from Germany, was walking on West 146th Street between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. boulevards, when she was approached by her attacker, police said. The unidentified man grabbed the tourist from behind and tried to snatch her purse, police said.

The woman tried to fight the man off and refused to let go of her purse as her attacker punched her in the face, according to surveillance video distributed Friday by police.

The video shows the man knocking the woman to the ground and repeatedly punching her. During the attack, the man sexually assaulted the tourist, police said.

The attack occurred shortly before 3 a.m., police said.

The suspect fled the scene heading east on West 146 Street, police said. The tourist suffered injuries to her face and was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, police told Patch.

Police describe the attacker as a man with short black hair standing 5-foot-8 and weighing around 175 pounds. He was wearing gray sweatpants, white sneakers and a dark colored hooded sweatshirt at the time of the attack.

Warning, graphic video below:

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) .

Photo by NYPD