EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn — A 88-year-old woman’s Life Alert may have saved her life as she was being attacked in her Brooklyn home Wednesday by a neighbor police said she knew.
Cops said around 2 p.m., the victim answered a knock on her East New York home and let 24-year-old neighbor Selwyn Worrell man inside after he said he wanted to cut through her home to get to his.
Once inside, Worrell grabbed the woman and dragged her into the basement, binding her hands with an electrical cord and tried to rape her, according to sources.
The victim was wearing her Life Alert device, which was activated during the attack, notifying first responders of an emergency at her home, police said.
She suffered a contusion to her head in the Vermont Street assault, police said. The woman was taken to a local hospital where she was interviewed by detectives from the NYPD Special Victims Unit.
Worrell was taken into custody several blocks away, officials said. After being evaluated at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Worrell was taken to the 75 precinct in East New York.
Worrell faces charges of rape, sexually motivated assault and burglary.
Gregory Damien-Worrell, the suspect’s uncle, told PIX11 his nephew suffers from mental illness. “People with mental disorders need help,” he said.
