Vigilante justice in Overbrook

OVERBROOK - August 15, 2009 Action News was the only one there as officers escorted a rape suspect to the Special Victims Unit. He was carrying a shirt tattered and torn after he was beat up b Overbook residents before being handed over to police.

The man is suspected of raping a 22-year-old woman.

The victim's mother said it all began around 5:30 Saturday morning when her daughter was on her way to work. The mother says she was then sexually assaulted in an alley near 56th Street and Lansdowne Avenue.

"She was approached by a man with a gun. He dragged her in an alley after taking her pocketbook and her cell phone and he asked her to take her clothes off and he sexually assaulted her," the victim's mother told Action News.

After word spread about the incident, a number of residents in the neighborhood began looking for the alleged assailant and then this afternoon, they spotted the man.

"They beat him up and then he ran. The community came together. Really good. Everybody chased him, made sure he didn't get away. Everybody called 911," a resident told Action News.

Lou Colzie was one of about 20 residents who got involved. He's been living on the block for 40 years.

"We take justice in our own hands if we have to," Colzie said.

Police officers arrested the suspect and took him into custody.

Meanwhile, the victim's mother says the assailant chose the wrong neighborhood to do what he did.

"I have no idea who they think they are, but he's messing with the wrong mother's child," the mother told Action News.

The suspect is facing multiple charges.

This incident comes more than two months after vigilante justice was taken to capture /*Jose Carrasquillo*/ at Front and Clearfield Streets on June 2.

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