Woman Groped in Central Park; NYPD Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass Dies

Given NYPD’s extensive network of surveillance camera, one doesn’t often see the work of police sketch artists anymore. While one wishes neither was necessary, cops are nonetheless asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual wanted in connection with a groping incident (forcible touching) that occurred within the confines of the Central Park Precinct. Details are as follows:

It was reported to the police that on Friday, Sept. 26, at approximately 6 p.m., a 22-year-old female victim was sitting in the vicinity of West Drive and Center Drive inside Central Park, when she was approached by an unidentified individual.

The unidentified individual grabbed her buttocks and private area over her clothing, then fled on foot, traveling in an unknown direction to parts unknown. There were no injuries reported as a result of this incident.

The sought individual is described as a male with a medium complexion and, in a police sketch-artist portrait, he appears Hispanic. He was last seen wearing black ripped jeans.

Remembering NYPD Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass, UWS Crime Victim

Perhaps the single most beloved member of New York’s finest—he was certainly its longest serving—NYPD Chaplain Rabbi Alvin Kass died on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. He was 89. While further tributes to Kass—who joined the department in 1966, with U.S. Air Force service and degrees from both Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary behind him—will surely follow, it’s worth noting that even a man close to both God and cops could be preyed upon by criminals in his own Upper West Side neighborhood.

Most recently, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2021, Kass, then 84, was out for his regular morning walk at around 5:45 a.m. when a man approached him at Riverside Drive and West 107th Street.

”I’m hungry, I need food,” said the man, who then rifled through Kass’s pockets and snatched his phone.

”And then he grabbed my other pocket, my wallet, and I think he saw my shield and I think it threw him because after that he seemed confused and he dropped the shield and ran away,” said the rabbi.

An apparently homeless man, Rafael Diaz, 39, was arrested later that day and charged with attempted robbery and drug possession, including a crack pipe.

”There is a lot of people sleeping outside, which is very, very sad to see,” Kass said. “Unfortunately, I know we’re living in very difficult times. Between this deadly pandemic and all of the social upheaval and the economic devastation.”

Earlier, on Sunday, June 19, Kass was on his regular morning walk from his Riverside Boulevard home up to Grant’s Tomb when at around 6:45 a.m. someone shoved him from behind on Riverside Drive between West 83rd and West 84th streets.

“I’m a walker; I like to go up to Grant’s Tomb and back in the mornings,” Kass told the New York Post. “Someone hit me from behind and knocked me down.”

“They didn’t say a word, didn’t take anything. They just started running. I had minor injuries,” the rabbi elaborated. “Thank God nothing’s broken.”