Video shows NYPD drag illegal immigrant rape suspect from hiding under car after citizen's arrest
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant from Ecuador, was wanted in connection to a horrific broad daylight child rape in a popular Queens park.
Warning: This story contains graphic details.
Witness video shows a group of NYPD officers swarming the Ecuadorian illegal immigrant accused of raping a girl in a park and dragging him out from under a car after a group of New Yorkers cornered him and made a citizen's arrest.
Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, appeared bloody and shirtless in the clip. Police said members of the community recognized him from a wanted poster in connection to the heinous attack – in which he is accused of forcing two 13-year-olds, a boy and a girl, into the woods at Kissena Park with a machete-like knife Thursday.
Once hidden in the brush, police allege he tied the children's wrists together and raped the girl. Then they say he stole their cellphones and told them to sit still as he escaped. At his arraignment Wednesday, prosecutors revealed the children had also been gagged and said they found a water bottle at the scene that tested positive for Inga-Landi's DNA.
"This attack on two children in broad daylight in a city park strikes the very core of our society," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the criminal complaint, the children did not know their attacker, and he told them to "shut up" before tying them together and stuffing their mouths with fabric.
The document also states that Inga-Landi admitted to the attack in an interview with detectives. He allegedly told police he gagged one child with a bandana and the other with a piece of cloth, threatened them with a machete-like knife and raped the girl.
The shocking attack galvanized New Yorkers, who were on the lookout for Inga-Landi as soon as the NYPD obtained and released surveillance images showing his face.
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"Everybody knew who we were looking for," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. "We had tips coming in actually naming the perpetrator. They knew who he was. They saw him out on the street."
"We saw from bodycam video at least 10 neighborhood people trying to do the right thing," Kenny added.
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"The rapist came to the store, and we'd usually be right here, and we spotted him, so my friend launched on him with a girl," a neighborhood resident named Forge told Fox News Digital. "They did what they had to do. They restrained him, but he hid under a car."
Police arrived a few minutes later, he said.
The New York Post identified the two good Samaritans as Angela Sauretti, 23, and Jeffrey Flores, 24.
"I seen him a few times – he comes to this store to buy stuff," Flores told the paper, speaking outside the deli where the takedown happened. "I waited for him. I waited the whole day to see if he would come up. He came at night."
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Police said as many as 10 residents helped detain Inga-Landi until they arrived. Two others involved in the heroics include 67-year-old Isabel Caizado and Daniel Ramos.
Kenny said the suspect suffered minor injuries after he tried to fight the good Samaritans.
Inga-Landi was due back in court Wednesday in connection with a slew of crimes.
He entered the U.S. illegally through Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021, according to authorities. He was captured and released, but DNA collected at the time provided the match to the water bottle, prosecutors said.
Between then and his arrest this week, he had several low-level prior offenses, including subway fare jumping and drinking in public, authorities said.
He was also involved in a domestic violence incident where no charges were filed, and he had an unspecified arrest in Texas. At the time of his arrest, there was an immigration warrant out for his arrest, Katz told reporters after Wednesday's hearing.
Inga-Landi faces a slew of charges, including rape, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
He did not enter a plea at his arraignment Wednesday. The judge ordered him remanded without bail.
Fox News' Jennifer Johnson contributed to this report.
