Virginia Man Arrested Over Attempted Rape In Harlem Caught On Video

A Virginia man has turned himself into police for allegedly trying to rape a woman in the vestibule of her Manhattan apartment building last month, weeks after video emerged of the attack, according to an NYPD spokesman.

Christopher Strickland, 44, was arrested Sunday and charged with attempted rape, burglary, sex abuse, and assault in connection with the Aug. 25 attack, police said.

Strickland, who hails from Fredericksburg, Virginia, is accused of following a 22-year-old woman into the vestibule of her building in East Harlem just before 5 a.m. Aug. 25, where he groped her, grabbed her by the throat, and pushed her against a wall in an attempt to rape her, police said.

The woman fought back however, in a courageous effort captured on the building’s surveillance cameras. Video of the scuffle, released by police in an effort to track down the attacker, showed the woman grabbing at the would-be rapist’s throat and kicking him repeatedly in the legs.

After breaking free of the attacker’s grip, the woman is seen shoving him toward the door as he tried to regain entry, but she eventually managed to force him out of the building, according to the surveillance footage.

Strickland was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Sunday, where prosecutors charged him with attempted rape and sex abuse, according to online records. He is currently being held at Manhattan Detention Complex after a judge ordered him held on $10,000 bail, records show.

Strickland was photographed being led out of a police precinct Sunday dressed in a cowlneck sweater and a black T-shirt, scowling at reporters, according to the New York Post.

He's due back in court on Friday for his next hearing. Contact information for Strickland’s defense attorney was not immediately available.

[Photo: NYPD]