Police: Woman Attacked in Norwalk Park

NORWALK, Conn. – A woman who was enjoying unseasonably warm weather in a Norwalk park Thursday afternoon was attacked and seriously injured by a man she did not know, Norwalk police say.

Police detained a suspect – a man they found nearby on West Avenue, wearing only underwear – and arrested him on charges stemming from another incident in the park, in the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion area.

The 53-year-old victim was in Norwalk Hospital on Friday morning after suffering severe cuts on her face. She was unable to identify the suspect as her attacker Thursday, but police were interviewing her again at about 9:30 a.m., Sgt. James Walsh said.

The woman was sitting on a bench in Fera Park at West Avenue and Butler Street when she was attacked, Walsh said.

Police detained the suspect before they found the severely bleeding woman, Walsh said. They were told at about 12:20 p.m. that a bald man was walking in and out of traffic and seemed to be emotionally disturbed. He was agitated, grunting and clenching his fist when police arrived, Walsh said. They asked him why he wasn't wearing clothes, and he said he was "hot and angry," Walsh said. The man was arrested without incident.

At 12:29 p.m., an off-duty officer found the woman in the park, bleeding profusely.

The victim gave a description of her assailant, including that he was bald. Walsh said the man being detained because of his behavior up the road, Emmanuel Montanez, 24, of 8 Davenport St., had blood, scratches and small cuts on his left hand but denied having been in the park. He told police he had scraped his hands while doing push ups in front of a barber shop, where he also was doing aerobics and karate kicks. Workers there said Montanez had been in the shop but was asked to leave because he was creating a disturbance, Walsh said. They hadn't seen him doing karate kicks or push ups, Walsh said.

Walsh said a DNA test was being done on the blood on Montanez's hand, and he expects charges to be filed.

Another woman questioned later by police identified Montanez as a man who had confronted her in Mathews Park, Walsh said. He called her a racial epithet and said he was going to kill her, Walsh said. 

Montanez was arrested in connection with this incident and charged with second-degree breach of peace, first-degree threatening and intimidation based on bigotry. Bond was set at $10,000.

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