Web produced by Jennifer Matarese, Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Police have arrested a man in the alleged rape of a 73-year-old woman in Central Park.
Police sources in the case tell Eyewitness News the victim picked the suspect, identified as 42-year-old David Albert Mitchell out of a lineup.
"It's majestic, it's very soothing, I'm not going to stop, nobody is going to take that pleasure away from me. This was just one animal," the rape and robbery survivor said.
42-year-old David Mitchell acted like an animal, by spitting at reporters when he walked out to an SUV Thursday evening.
Police say he maliciously targeted a 73-year-old soft spoken birdwatcher. Eyewitness News is concealing her identity.
"He flipped me over and raped me, thoroughly," she said, "Sometimes I can feel what he was doing. It's a kinetic memory."
This savage attack happened in broad daylight Wednesday around noon near Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
Investigators say Mitchell was mad that the 73-year-old photographer took a picture of him during a lewd act almost two weeks ago.
"This is a revenge attack. He remembered me," she said.
During the sexual assault, she suffered two black eyes, bruises arms and legs, and a broken finger.
"Were you able to scream or anything, or were you just silent?" Eyewitness News reporter Darla Miles asked.
"When he finished beating the *expletive* out of me, he said, he pushed me into the dirt on my face and he said, "You stay there, you count to 100,'" the woman described.
Hours after the attack, the NYPD released a surveillance video of the suspect.
Three rookie cops spotted him and took him into custody.
He's no stranger to police in Virginia where his criminal history includes kidnapping and dates back to 1978.
"All I was doing was praying to stay alive," she said.
Sources say Mitchell is homeless.
He faces multiple charges including Predatory Sex Act and Rape.
The victim says she knows this was an act of power and that she's not going to give her attacker.
So, she plans to continue bird watching as soon as she walks out of her front door, without two black eyes.
"Am I freaking out? No. Something bad happened, my bruises will eventually go away and I'm still alive," she said.
She's been a professional photographer for almost 50 years, and a birdwatcher for 30.
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new york city, central park, rape, robbery, new york news, darla miles
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Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Police in the Bronx are hunting for two robbers who slashed a 75-year old woman in the throat during a brutal push-in robbery. 
