Thirty-four-year-old Jesse Dailey was taken into custody at his home on Wednesday after he was caught on camera following the confrontation with a female officer.
Police were canvassing the Park Slope neighborhood where the young girl was groped, hanging posters with a detailed sketch of the suspect, when the officers spotted a man fitting the description in the vicinity of 5th Avenue and 9th Street around 3:40 p.m. Monday.
When they attempted to question him, he allegedly attacked the officer and pushed her to the ground before fleeing the scene. The officer was taken to Methodist Hospital with a separated shoulder.
Dailey was spotted on a store's surveillance system and was tracked down largely due to the efforts of a Good Samaritan. Lawrence Abdullah and his brother reportedly raced after Dailey for six blocks following the assault on the female cop, who they heard screaming.
"I said do you have ID? He said yes. I said give me your ID. And he's like, no, I can't," the 40-year-old Abdullah said. "I said, well you're not leaving here until you give me your ID. So he gave me the ID and I took a picture of it."
After seeing a picture of the same man on television, Abdullah says he went right to investigators and turned it over.
"His reason for running for like six blocks...didn't make sense to me," he said. "And since I didn't know exactly what happened, I said just give me your ID, because if anything came up, I would have that."
The groping incident happened on Monday, November 11, just after 4 p.m. Police say the 11-year-old victim was walking along 4th Street when the suspect approached her from behind and squeezed her buttocks.
He then fled the scene.
Police were investigating if Dailey was also responsible for three other incidents that occurred in the same area in June and September, and he is charged in at least one of them.
That incident happened on Friday, September 20, at approximately 4:30 p.m. along 5th Avenue. Authorities say a 10-year-old girl was walking with her 11-year-old friend when a man police believe was Dailey approached them from behind and brushed up against the 10-year-old before squeezing the buttocks of the 11-year-old.
All the incidents happened in the late afternoon and involved a man approaching a young girl and either grabbing her buttocks or brushing against her.
Daily is charged with first-degree sex abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child in relation to the gropings. He is also charged with felony assault, resisting arrest, obstructing government administration and assault in connection with the attack on the officer.
