July 15, 2024 By Bill Parry
Police from the 114th Precinct in Astoria are looking for a suspect wanted in connection to a forcible touching incident that occurred on Tuesday, July 2, at the 21st Street-Queensbridge F train station in Long Island City.
The suspect allegedly approached a 17-year-old girl who was exiting the station at around 4 p.m. and touched her buttocks, police said. He then fled the scene by ducking inside the station, where he jumped on a Manhattan-bound F train to parts unknown.
There were no reported injuries as a result of the incident.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect and described him as having a dark complexion, approximately 160 pounds, and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He was last seen wearing a distinctive green athletic jacket with white leather sleeves and a multi-colored pattern over a white T-shirt, a green baseball cap on backward, white-rimmed sunglasses, light blue jeans, and a light blue and white tote bag.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through July 14, the 114th Precinct has reported 45 sex crimes so far in 2024, 10 fewer than the 55 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 18.2%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Transit crimes are also down in the precinct, with 17 reported so far this year, four fewer than the 17 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 19%, according to CompStat.