A Frum girl was chased down and assaulted in Lakewood last night, officials confirm to TLS.
The teenager, said to be approximately 15 years old, was walking on Forest Avenue around 11:30 PM when she reportedly realized she was being followed. She began running away, but the man gave chase until catching up with her near the lake.
Officials tell TLS the man then proceeded to beat her – including possibly attempting to strangle her – before he fled, while allegedly threatening he would kill her if she phoned police.
The shaken girl phoned her father, who in turn phoned police.
Hatzolah also responded to the scene and transported the girl to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Her injuries are not life-threatening, officials said.
The suspect was described as a white male, but no further details were immediately released.
Authorities are investigating the incident.
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I have seen girls and young women walking alone at night on several occasions. Unfortunately the world today dictates that attitudes and behaviors that were fine and safe in “the good old days” need to be changed. There are enough crazy and dangerous thugs out there to make it absolutely necessary for girls, women, and children to NOT walk alone at night, even in supposedly “safe” neighborhoods. Thankfully this story did not end up even worse than it did. I wish this girl and her family a complete and speedy recovery, from all the physical and especially emotional and psychological trauma this has caused. May the police catch this creep quickly and eliminate him from the streets.
Lets sign the petition to get more street lights!!!
The “good old days” is a myth. Crime of all type, especially violent crime has dropped significantly over the last few decades. You are significantly safer walking the streets alone today, then you were 30 years ago.
According to the FBI, the violent crime rate in 1994 per 100,000 people was 713.6. That dropped to 367.9 in 2013. More than a 50% drop in violent crime such as murder and assault.
The reason why “the good old days” seem that way is that many people were scared to report crimes, victims were often times not believes, most crimes were not known the way we know about them now thanks to the internet. Our daughters are safer walking alone at night today than they have ever been in the last 50 years.
I wish the Lakewood residents would start installing security cameras on their homes, they’re very affordable these days & are proven to keep neighborhoods safer. We should never have to learn the hard way like they did in Brooklyn a few summers ago, & now almost every home is wired up.
Please parents do not let your young children girls or boys walk alone after dark, It could have been CHAS VESHOLEM much worse although what happened is bad enough, Our town is not what it used to be anymore . For that matter women should not walk alone at night either, It happened in the past where men were also assaulted. I wish everybody all the best, A Good Shabbos and lets be careful please,
Well said #1 ^
You all have very strong points about staying out of harms way and keeping our families safe, but I must say #4 is very right, In such a large & young growing community בלי עין הרע we should definitely take way more security measures in keeping our community safe, & since the past has proven that we can not rely on our police forces.. the least we can all contribute to our community’s safety is to install Security Camera’s on our homes, although it doesn’t totally solve the problem & we always need סייעתא דשמיא it’s definitely considered “Hishtadlus” on our part, & coming from other communities where there are loads of low-lives living between us like ours it has proven to significantly decrease crime rates. With Hashem’s help Let us always stay safe & have a Happy & healthy Summer!
Something about this story does not ring true. A vicious stranger just happened to be driving through a nice neighborhood at 11:30 at night in hopes of spotting a young girl alone……I don’t believe in coincidence.
How awful.
I agree with #1, must always be vigilant
This is terrible. Please let out the word that instead of running to a place where no one may be around, instead run into the nearest house, especially in areas that are mostly from our community. If someone goes into a house the attacker will not follow!
ur right! however obviously the girl was in a panic mode and she was trying to Run away. Not always easy to think straight in such a situation & ur creating such an awareness of what to do is a good idea for next time!
To the comment #3 responding to my first comment: let’s assume for a moment that your facts and statistics are accurate. I sincerely hope that you did NOT mean to say our girls and women should therefore walk alone at night, since after all, violent crime is down?!? I don’t care if “the good old days” is a myth or not, that doesn’t change the fact that predators are out there and better safe than sorry. Even one victim chas v’shalom is too much.
Sorry to add some pessimism to the opinion that things are much safer, but…
A new study of the safest towns in NJ for children was conducted and the results were quite surprising.
In the top 50 were, Howell, Jackson, Toms River…
Lakewood? Nary to be found. Not even with binoculars.
How nice.
To I think #8- where does it say the guy was driving?
how will cameras prevent further incidents from happening?
Being that i was assaulted in broad daylight just comes to show how unsafe Lakewood has become. It definitely makes a difference if it’s night or day but one ALWAYS has to be careful and on the lookout.
Reply to #15
Security Camera’s don’t solve any problems but significantly reduce crime rates in neighborhoods that are infested with them. Just stop and think for a minute what goes through the silly minds of these gangsters, they will never do something if they think they’ll get caught, if they see neighborhoods infested with security cameras they’ll think twice or move on to a neighborhood where they feel more comfortable (so to speak..) Also stories like this one where chances of catching up with this guy is very unlikely, (since no one was murdered b”h the detective won’t sweat much in order to close the case) just proves to these gangsters that their more likely to get away with it.. If catching up with them would be easier (by checking the nearest security camera) crimes would definitely be much much lower. It’s a proven fact around the globe. I understand it’s very far fetched for out of towner’s that live in very quiet & private community’s, but for us Lakewood’ers that’s no longer the case. So wake up & smell the coffee!
I lived in Flatbush for a lot of years where security camera’s are a staple to most home owners, and I have a hard time understanding why it’s so uncommon here in Lakewood. I think people feel it’s a bad investment since it’s too costly & for the amount of occasions they’re needed it just doesn’t quite pay off.. which is totally the wrong approach. Since when you make such an investment it instantly pays off by causing your home and neighborhood to be a safer place to live by keeping intruders away rather then waiting for something to happen and having to use it in order to investigate the incident. Think about it…
This is why I do not believe in gun laws. A criminal will be a criminal regardless of the law however they wouldn’t attack so often if we could defend ourselves
“Authorities are Investigating the Incident”….
HOW ARE THEY INVESTIGATING??? If they have absolutely nothing to work with? #4 & #7 You are absolutely right.. As an assaulted victim myself I can testify that this case is closed.. It’s a shame that we are so far behind in security measures here in town (For Example: security camera’s & Street Lights) especially in a yeshivish’e neighborhood where this one occurred. “Shomer Pesoyim Hashem”…