July 22, 2024 By Bill Parry
A 29-year-old woman was groped by a stranger while she rode a Manhattan-bound 7 train in Jackson Heights earlier this month.
Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights and Transit District 20 reported that the incident occurred in broad daylight on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 2, while the victim was onboard a 7 train in the vicinity of Elmhurst Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue. At around 3:30 p.m. the perpetrator approached her and allegedly reached under her skirt and forcibly touched her buttocks, police said.
Her assailant got off the 7 train at the 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue station and fled in an unknown direction. The victim was not injured during her ordeal.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect on Saturday and described him as having a light complexion, approximately 150 pounds and 5’5” tall with short black hair. He wore a black polo shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers and black sunglasses and had a beige tote bag with a black strap that was slung over his shoulder.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this forcible touching investigation 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 115th Precinct has reported 84 sex crimes so far in 2024, two more than the 82 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 2.4%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Transit crimes are down in the precinct with 40 reported so far this year, 16 fewer than the 56 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 28.6%, according to CompStat.