Arif Nour, of Red Hook, Brooklyn, surrendered at the 108th Precinct in Long Island City after realizing he was wanted in a unlawful imprisonment investigation stemming from an incident two weeks earlier in Sunnyside.
Photo courtesy of NYPD (l.) and via WIkimedia
A Brooklyn man was arrested after he turned himself in at the 108th Precinct on the morning of Monday, May 4, two weeks after he snatched a woman off the street in Sunnyside and carried her into a 7 line subway station on Queens Boulevard.
Arif Nour, 23, of Bay Street in Red Hook, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court the next day on a criminal complaint charging him with attempted kidnapping in the second degree and unlawful imprisonment in the second degree.
The evening rush hour underway just after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 20, Nour was standing on the Manhattan-bound platform at the 46th Street-Bliss Street Station in Sunnyside when he approached a 23-year-old woman and engaged her in a conversation, according to the criminal complaint. The woman exited the station, walked across the intersection of 47th Street and Queens Boulevard and began walking earthbound to 48th Street. Nour followed her and tried to engage her in another conversation.
The woman was having none of the small talk and told him to beat it, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. Nour grew angry at the rejection and as the victim attempted to walk away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the 46th Street-Bliss Street station. As they arrived on the Bliss Plaza pedestrian space beneath the 7 line station, Nour picked her up and carried her up the stairs, swiped him and her through the turnstile, and carried her up another staircase onto the platform where the victim screamed at him to put her down. Nour complied, letting her go while stating, “Okay. I will stop pretending to kidnap you now,” according to the criminal complaint. The victim ran out of the station and when she realized Nour was following her again, she turned and told him, “I am going to scream for help and call the police.” Nour walked away, according to the complaint.
At his May 5 arraignment before Queens Criminal Court Judge Indira Khan, Nour pled not guilty and bail was set at $15,000 cash or $45,000 bond. He was ordered to return to court on July 16.