The police are looking for a man they believe may be involved with four sexual attacks in the East Village and Lower East Side. The Daily News ran a graphic (pictured) of showing where and when the attacks have occurred. Early yesterday morning, a 20-year-old woman was attacked at East 9th and Second Avenue, as the Sun puts it, "just steps away from the bright lights of the 24-hour Veselka Restaurant."

The other attacks occurred in other parts of the East Village and on Mott Street, near Prince. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the latest attack is "seen as part of the pattern," with all the attacks happening in the early morning, when women are entering their buildings. The attacker puts the woman into a chokehold, and, in one case, the News reports, "one of the cases the man put his arm around a victim's neck and caused her to pass out for a short period."

A reader left this comment to yesterday's post:

just some additional information - i live in the building on e. 12th st where the attack took place last week. your article understates the seriousness of the attack - according to the neighbors that rushed to help, the rapist wrestled the woman to the ground and was getting ready to rape her when they startled him. so i just want to make sure that readers realize that there's an extremely violent and dangerous rapist on the loose in the East Village.

here a few tips if you absolutely have to walk home alone at night:
-- always look behind you before you enter your building. if there's someone behind you, let them walk in first (so they can't trap you in between the double doors - that's what happened in my building)
-- if you're being attacked, scream "CALL THE POLICE" - we were woken up by screams in our building, but our first thought wasn't to call the police, since we were assuming it's a domestic dispute of some sort and we couldn't see anything out the window. by the time police got to the scene, the rapist escaped.

An East 9th Street resident told the Post he had been watching TV when he heard muffled noises during yesterday's attack, "After what I hear now I am sorry I didn't look out the window."