Good Samaritan Thanked for Capturing Alleged Attacker

Lane fled, but the woman's neighbor, Thomas Rafulowitz heard the victim's screams, grabbed the attacker as he ran down a street and detained the man until authorities arrived.

Rafulowitz, 42, told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera that he remembered hearing the woman cry out and scream "He assaulted me."

Rafulowitz said he chased Lane who tried to tell him that he was a police officer and the woman was a prostitute who was beaten by her pimp.

Lane was taken to a hospital for psychological observation on June 27 after his arrest on charges of first-degree rape, burglary and criminal impersonation for posing as a police officer.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the crime a violation of public trust and "a serious threat to public safety.''

Lane knocked on the 37-year-old victim's apartment door in the Flushing section of Queens on June 26, prosecutors said.

Once inside, he ripped her clothing off, threw her on the bed, and raped her -- then ordered her to get him a drink, according to prosecutors.

She was raped twice more and assaulted before the attacker stole money and left. He ran down the street shouting, ``Get out of my way -- police,'' with the victim in pursuit, prosecutors said.

Rafulowitz, who is 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds, grabbed Lane and held him until police officers arrived.

Lane was arrested with a sanitation shield, handcuffs and a radio scanner, but the suspect isn't a Sanitation Department employee, prosecutors said.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said men posing as police officers had committed a string of recent robberies, unrelated to the rape.

``It's an issue we've been dealing with for quite a while,'' he said of police impersonators. ``It potentially undermines the reputation of the department if people actually think they are police officers.''

Lane is being held on $250,000 bail and is due back in court July 28.