YOUNGSTOWN Man faces questioning in Lincoln Park rape case

The girl says she was punched and kicked numerous times.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Acting on a tip, police went to Forum Northside Medical Center and found a man detectives want to question in the rape and beating of a 16-year-old East Side girl.
The 43-year-old South Jackson Street man was arrested at the hospital Sunday night on an unrelated warrant issued in April 1999 for his failure to appear in municipal court on an open-container charge. It's wasn't immediately clear why the man went to the hospital, presumably to check on the girl.
The man was held in the Mahoning County jail overnight pending questioning today by juvenile division detectives.
Lt. Robin Lees, police department spokesman, said the man in custody isn't the only suspect in the crime.
The Shehy Street girl was taken to Northside about 3:15 p.m. Sunday, after she ran naked across the bridge in Lincoln Park to a park security guard.
When police arrived, the girl was being treated by an ambulance crew. She spoke to police at the hospital.
Police report
The girl told officers that she took a shortcut through the park to get to her grandmother's house on Park Heights and was grabbed on the road by a thin black man with a mustache wearing black pants and coat and a black hat with a white "K" on it. The girl was dragged by her hair about 80 feet into the park, fighting against the attack the whole time, reports show.
The victim said she was punched and kicked more times than she could remember and may have lost a tooth. Police described her injuries as swollen upper and lower lips, right eye swollen shut, both cheeks and jaw bruised and swollen, the top of her head bleeding and blood coming from both ears.
The girl told police that the man dragged her to the foot bridge, told her to sit down and take her clothes off and threatened to kill her. He made her lie on top of her jacket on the walking bridge and raped her, reports show.
After the attack, the suspect tried to smother the teenager and then, when that didn't succeed, pushed her over the bridge into the rocky and rain-swollen creek, a drop of about 12 feet, police said.
meade@vindy.com