De Blasio Calls For Precautions After Another Subway Groping Incident
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is urging women to take steps to protect themselves on the subway, in the wake of another groping incident.
The latest reported incident happened in broad daylight Saturday, Oct. 6, on the Lorimer Street J train elevated station on the South Side of Williamsburg.
Around 1:30 p.m. that day, the man exposed himself, and forcibly touched a woman at the platform, police said.
De Blasio said the trend of assaults against women on subways and on streets has become disturbingly frequent, and has office seeks to ensure that those at risk know how to defend themselves.
"We're trying to make sure that every woman in the city knows what they can do to defend themselves; that straphangers know the kind of things they can do to protect themselves and each other," he told 1010 WINS.
He advised that the solution to confronting danger is not to keep quiet.
"If you feel uncomfortable; you feel something is about to happen, make noise," de Blasio said. "Make that scene, because it might save you or other people on the train from an attack. Better to make the noise; better to create the distraction, that to wish later you had."
The suspect in the groping incident was described as a black male about 6 feet tall, with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, dark blue sweat pants, a blue bandana, and blue beads.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.
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