New Yorkers catch alleged rapist of 13-year-old girl after he crawled ‘like a cat’ under a car

Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi has been charged with raping a 13-year-old girl. Photo / NYPD

Residents of a New York City neighbourhood are being credited with the arrest of an Ecuadorian man for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl, a crime that a police commissioner said “shocked our entire city”.

Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, was awaiting a court appearance after his arrest early on Tuesday outside a deli in Corona, Queens.

He was charged with raping a teenager last Thursday at Kissena Park in Queens after he allegedly used a knife to accost the girl and a 13-year-old boy walking with her.

Police officials told a news conference that community members detained Inga-Landi until police arrived, even though he fought them.

Joe Kenny, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, said local residents who lived on the block where the arrest occurred ensured that once Inga-Landi was spotted, he couldn’t go anywhere, apparently even using a belt to hold his feet together.

Kenny said at least 10 individuals kept him in place until police arrived.

Angela Sauretti, 23, told The Daily Beast that she spotted Inga-Landi, wearing a black hoodie, in the deli and put him in a headlock when he tried to flee.

“He said, ‘Let me explain!’ I’m like, ‘There’s nothing to explain. You’re a rapist,’” she recalled.

Sauretti said Inga-Landi crawled under a car “like a cat,” but community members surrounded it to prevent his escape.

Commissioner Edward A. Caban of the New York Police Department said the rape “shocked our entire city”.

“Our city was united in getting justice for the victim and her family,” he added.

Kenny said Inga-Landi confessed, saying he had a drug problem, that he found the knife he used in the attack and that “this was the first time that he had ever done anything like this”.

Kenny said the suspect also identified himself in a video that investigators showed him. Criminal charges lodged against him included rape, sex abuse, predatory sexual assault resulting in serious injury, robbery, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.

No attorney was listed as Inga-Landi’s representative in court filings. The Ecuadorian consulate did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Kenny said community members, including a landlord who recalled that Inga-Landi had tried to rent a room from him two weeks ago, provided “crucial information” as the police department saturated the area with detectives and distributed pictures and a video of the suspect on social media.

The response from the community even before the arrest was so strong that police knew Inga-Landi’s identity, had accessed his Facebook page and had a “dead-on” sketch along with photographs and video, Kenny said.