NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Police arrested Kashaan Parks in the Bronx on Saturday morning, ending the high-profile manhunt that ensued after he was accused of using a belt to drag a woman by her neck down a Bronx street and raping her when she lost consciousness.
Parks, 39, allegedly attacked the 45-year-old woman last Wednesday morning at East 152nd Street and Third Avenue in Melrose. Police released his identity on Friday hours after the department released surveillance images of a suspect in the case.
Officers arrested Parks, of the Belmont section, at 10 a.m. in the Bronx. He was charged with rape, assault, strangulation, sex abuse, public lewdness and harassment.
The victim, who police said identified Parks from a distinctive gap in his teeth while recounting casual encounters with him in the neighborhood, was walking down the street at 5 a.m. when the rapist attacked her from behind.
Horrific surveillance video that's being shared on social media shows the man, who police identified as Parks—his face covered with a white towel—sneaking up behind her and tossing a looped belt around her neck. He then pulls her to the ground by her neck and drags her down the sidewalk behind a car, the graphic video shows.
The suspect throttled her with the belt until she lost consciousness and then raped her between parked cars, according to police.
He then fled on foot down Melrose Avenue, police said.
The woman was taken by private means to NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, where she was in stable condition.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.