By Tom Jordan
A 29-year old Lynbrook woman reported to police that she was attacked and raped while riding her bicycle alone in Hempstead Lake State Park on Tuesday, August 8 at approximately 7:15 P.M.
The victim described her attacker as a Hispanic male, about 20 years old, 5'6", of medium build, with clear skin and medium complexion, straight black hair and brown eyes. According to police, the suspect was wearing a black T-shirt, baggy blue jeans, and a gold-colored rope chain with a crucifix around his neck. He was carrying a light-colored knapsack and was riding a 10-speed bike. The man spoke with a slight Spanish accent, the Nassau County Police Department Special Victims Unit is investigating the crime.
This incident, and a July 17 assault in the park, have fueled disturbing broadcast reports recently, but local police said the rumors of a multiple rapist loose in Hempstead Lake Park are false and that the public should not be worried.
"This [rape] is a very unusual incident," Lt. Warren Kelly of the Rockville Centre Police said. According to local and state police records, there has been one other reported rape in the park in the past ten years.
Rumors of a serial rapist apparently began when New York State Park Police reported details of an assault on an excercise trail in the park on July 17. Two women, one 29, the other 21, were walking on the trail just after 7:00 P.M. when they reported being confronted by a 20-year-old Hispanic male who put his hand around the neck of one of the victims. The women fought off the attacker, who fled into the park, according to the state police report.
"Rockville Centre North Park is a safe place to be," Lt. Kelly said. "We want people to go and enjoy the park."
Captain Richard O'Donnell of the New York State Park Police agreed that the park is safe, but was reluctant to comment on the possibility that the August 8 rape and the July 17 attack were linked in any way. "There is speculation that there may be a connection," Captain O'Donnell said. "I don't know that there are any solid underlying facts to lead that they were definitely connected."
Rockville Centre police patrol the 50-acre park area across from Mercy Medical Center just south of the Southern State Parkway, which is used by local soccer and lacrosse clubs, although it is not yet technically village property. The village and New York State are in the final stages of exchanging ownership of Donald F. Browne/RVC Park around McDonald Pond at the south end of the park along Peninsula Boulevard for the field area in the north.
The village received a $1 million grant to improve the fields and the park area with fencing and lighting once the deeds are finally exchanged.
Because of the land swap, full legal authority and jurisdiction over the case belong to Rockville Centre and Nassau County.
