NYPD adds more cameras in Central Park after sunbather was almost raped

NEW YORK (PIX11) — The NYPD has installed extra surveillance cameras in Central Park after a sunbather was attacked and almost raped in the famed greenspace last month, police said Tuesday.

“Those are not temporary cameras. They’re going to stay in Central Park,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said at a press briefing earlier this month.

The installation happened sometime after the Fourth of July weekend. It wasn’t immediately clear how many cameras were added, but officials previously hinted it would be a significant amount.

“It’s a lot,” Daughtry said at the briefing.

James Longmire allegedly attacked a 21-year-old woman who was sunbathing in Great Hill near West Drive and West 104th Street in Central Park at around 1:35 p.m. on June 24, police said. Longmire allegedly exposed himself and tried to rape the woman before she fought him off, authorities said.

Great Hill is an isolated park of Central Park that proved vulnerable to such incidents. After the attack, officials said the NYPD met with the Central Park Conservancy to discuss where the additional cameras would be most useful.

A spokesperson for the Central Park Conservancy did not respond to PIX11’s inquiry about the cameras.

This NYPD also placed additional surveillance cameras in a Queens park after a 13-year-old girl was raped in a wooded area of Kissena Park on June 13.

“We’ve put a lot of cameras up there. We put some you will see and some cameras you would not see,” Daughtry said.

A migrant, Christian Inga, was arrested and charged with rape, sex abuse, predatory sexual assault robbery, kidnapping, and unlawful imprisonment in connection to the incident, authorities said.

Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.

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