A 13-year-old girl was groped by a stranger while riding an E train as it approached the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike subway station during the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 18.
Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and Transit District 20 are still looking for a suspect who approached the youngster just before 4 p.m. and stood right next to her, reached down and touched her inner thigh and private area over her clothing, police said on Monday.
The girl tried to move away from the groper, who continued to follow her and touch her in a packed subway car as her fellow riders stared into their mobile devices. The creep got off the E train at the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike station and fled on Queens Boulevard along the Forest Hills and Kew Gardens border. The 13-year-old victim was not injured during her encounter with the stranger.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect and described him as having a medium build with a medium build. He has a thin goatee and wore a red New York Yankees baseball cap, a black jacket over a blue sweater, and a black backpack.
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 Dec. 1, the 112th Precinct has reported 37 sex crimes so far in 2024, two more than the 35 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 5.7%, according to the most recent CompStat report. Transit crimes are also on the rise in the precinct, with 35 reported so far this year, nine more than the 26 reported at the same point in 2023, an increase of 34.6%, according to CompStat.
