Sex attack susp: Tried to kill her
TEENS IN SEARCH of a cool selfie nearly got themselves frozen in time Monday when they plunged through an ice-covered pond in Central Park.
The seven young men, all 15 and 16 years old, had to be fished out of the small lake after venturing onto what they mistakenly thought was solid ice near Fifth Ave. and 59th St., officials said.
The teens were jumping around and taking pictures just moments before the ice gave way, witnesses said.
At least three good Samaritans jumped into the glacial water to help the frightened kids — who were panicking and grabbing at each other, according to witnesses.
Reykwon Martinez, 15, of Brooklyn, and his cousin were on their way to the basketball court when the saw the teens disappear into the frigid waters known simply as The Pond.
“Me and my cousin hopped the gate to try and help . . . Everybody was screaming and yelling,” said Martinez, who was treated at Bellevue Hospital and released Monday night.
“We were in the middle of the water and everyone was pulling each other down . . . I was trying to swim out of there . . . I couldn’t breathe,” said the shaken teen, who realized he had gone from rescuer to victim.
As firefighters and cops arrived at 5:47 p.m., Martinez had just been pulled to safety by a man on the bank. He watched first responders treat a teen who appeared to be foaming at the mouth.
“He was unconscious,” Martinez said.
Maia Ramirez, 15, said she and her mom grabbed a ladder they found on the ground and tried to help the struggling teens.
“They were taking a selfie and they all went down together . . . I was very scared,” Maia said.
All seven victims were treated for minor hypothermia and transported to local hospitals, said FDNY Deputy Chief John Schof.
Three FDNY divers from Rescue 1 and Rescue 4 scoured the dark and murky 18-foot depths for roughly an hour.“We’re confident we got everyone out,” said Schof.
He didn’t have an exact temperature of the water but was sure “it was pretty cold.”
Most of The Pond had a solid 2- to 3-inch layer of ice over it — “not thick enough to hold them up,” Schof added.
“They were just being kids, I guess,” Schof said, although he added that “going on the ice is not a good idea,” especially following two days temperatures in the 60s.
Bennett Jonas, 23, and Ethan Turnbull, 24, both male models skateboarding near The Pond, saw the teens dancing on the frozen water just before the ice cracked.
Jonas said he took hold of the first two closest to the edge and threw them to Turnbull. Then he grabbed a ladder and used it to pull in as many as he could, he told ABC 7 News.
“One kid way in the back . . . there was a moment when I was like, I’m not going to get to him, he was too far out and the water was freezing,” Bennett said.
He managed to snag the teen’s backpack and use it to drag the inert body to Turnbull, who hauled the young man ashore.
“We pulled him up. If we didn’t grab him, then a second later he was gone,” Jonas said.
“He was barely breathing,” Turnbull added. A TEEN who choked and sexually assaulted a woman in her Stuyvesant Town building told cops he was trying to murder her, prosecutors said Monday.
Aaron Kish, 17, was on leave from the Bonnie Brae School, a New Jersey group home for troubled boys and young men, when he attacked the 22-year-old woman in her lobby, prosecutors said.
“He admitted to attempting to kill, rape and molest the complaining witness,” a criminal complaint against Kish said.
The victim, who was walking home from a friend’s house early Sunday, had just entered the vestibule at 4:45 a.m. when Kish grabbed her from behind, cops said, adding he pinned her against the wall, knocked her to the ground and choked her.
The attacker tore off her dress and underwear and told her he’d let her go if she cooperated, sources said.Dressed in baggy, grimy gray sweatpants and a hoodie, Kish stared ahead blankly as he was arraigned Monday on attempted murder and rape charges. His lawyer, Martin LaFalce, said the victim failed to pick him out of a lineup.
“He has a low IQ, hovering around 70. He has borderline intellectual function,” LaFalce said. “My client has been overcharged. He certainly shouldn’t be charged with attempted murder.”
Kish was ordered held without bail.