Man follows woman home in Lower East Side attempted rape

LOWER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- A neighbor across the hall in a building on Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side recounts the struggle he heard just outside his door around 12:20 a.m. Friday.

Police say his neighbor was frantically fighting off a man, a man investigators say was trying to rape his victim.

"I did hear the commotion that I can say. And I did hear her say 'no, no!' But saying somebody's name as she's saying 'no, no!' I thought it was just a dispute between girlfriend and boyfriend, and he had left. After I heard all the EMS, and now I'm starting to realize what had happened," the neighbor said.

Police say the suspect followed the victim home by Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. They say he shoved his way through the door and groped her, but he wasn't done there. The woman put up a relentless fight, and he took off.

"I mean, it's terrifying - it can happen to any of us," says resident Michael Kretzmer.

Residents in the building say what's even more troubling is that there are clearly marked signs of cameras in the building, and yet it wasn't enough to make the suspect thing twice.

"It's a quiet street, so kinda creepy when it's later when all these people aren't here," says Shoshana White.

Police have only released a vague description of the man - he is in his late twenties to early thirties and is between 5'10 and 6'0, weighing 170-180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a brown waist-length jacket, and black jeans.