A known gang member was collared for trying to rape a woman in a Manhattan subway station Wednesday night, police officers said.
Lamel Batten, 44, approached the 21-year-old victim on train platform No. 1 at 116th St.-Columbia University station with his pants down around 11:45 p.m., according to police.
Batten pushed the woman against a wall, ripped off her shirt and threw his face into her chest, police said.
The suspect is said to have been in the process of pulling down the victim’s pants when she was able to break free.
The woman rushed towards the station’s mezzanine where she flagged down the police who handcuffed Batten.
Batten has been flagged as an emotionally disturbed person by the NYPD and is a known member of the Nine Trey gang, an East Coast subgroup of the Bloods, police said.
The suspect served more than a year on Sing Sing Correctional Institution for drug possession in 2017 and has a staggering 144 prior arrests, with charges including petty theft and resisting arrest, according to police and records.
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