NYC woman haunted by horrifying July 4th rape on Coney Island — where she says bystanders laughed and filmed ‘like it was a movie’

A Brooklyn woman said she was raped by a stranger while boozing it up on Coney Island on the Fourth of July — while bystanders laughed and shot video “like it was a movie.”

Melissa Harris, 25, told The Post she was at the Brooklyn beach to meet a pal who never showed up — so she stayed to celebrate the holiday with a group of strangers into the early morning.

That’s when things took a horrible turn, Harris said.

“All of a sudden, this dude came out of nowhere,” she said Thursday. “I kept looking at him. Is he drunk? I don’t know. It was a lot on my mind when that person was approaching me because he was a complete and total stranger.

“He was holding on to me. Every time I pushed him off, he grabbed me harder,” Harris said. “He grabbed me harder. He had strength.”

She said she fell onto a mat on the ground and he jumped on her, sexually assaulting her while she screamed for help.

“There were people around,” Harris recalled. “I started hearing people laughing. They sat across and watched like it was a movie.”

At one point during her ordeal, the light from a golf cart — presumably driven by beach security — shone on the group during the attack, but simply drove off and left her behind, she said. 

But the nightmare didn’t end there. 

Harris said after she broke free the creep followed her, threw her into a nearby fence and raped her, all while she called for help.

“People were there,” she said. “He had my face in the sand. He had my face in the bushes. I was screaming.”

Bizarrely, she said her attacker then followed her to the West 8th subway station and sat next to her, “like we were a couple.”

When she was finally able to break away from the man, she ran home and said she was later taken to the hospital by ambulance, where a rape kit was done. 

According to police, a rape was reported at the southeast corner of Boardwalk West and Stillwell Avenue around 3 a.m. on Saturday — the same time Harris said the attack occurred.

The attacker was described as a man in his 20s, who remains on the loose, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

For Harris, it was a horrific turn in what started out as a “super good night” when she arrived at the beach around 11 p.m. on Independence Day — even though she missed the fireworks.

Now, she remains haunted by the vicious assault — and was back at the hospital Thursday after suffering a panic attack.

“I’m not having a good time,” Harris said. “Every day I wake up at 6 a.m. on the dot. I have panic attacks. 

“I feel crazy every single day, like I’m still there,” she added.

She said she’s sharing the story in the hopes it will help police nab the brute.