The NYPD is asking for the public's help after a 31-year-old woman reported she was groped inside the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue subway station early Tuesday morning. She told detectives she was in the station at about 6:40 a.m. when an unidentified person grabbed her buttocks and then fled on foot. Investigators have circulated a wanted alert and urged commuters to review any phone and building-camera footage from around that time for anything that could help.
What the NYPD posted
According to the NYPD Crime Stoppers Facebook post, the incident happened on Tuesday, April 21 at approximately 6:40 a.m., when the suspect "touched and grabbed the victim’s buttocks" before fleeing to parts unknown. The post lists the department tip lines, 1-800-577-TIPS and, in Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA, and tells the public they can also contact the NYPD through its Crime Stoppers program or via the department's X account @NYPDTips. Investigators asked people with phone or door-cam footage from that time frame to preserve the files and share them with detectives.
Where it happened
The incident took place inside the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station complex at Roosevelt Avenue, 74th Street and Broadway, a major transfer hub that serves multiple subway lines, according to the MTA. That subway complex falls within the NYPD's 115th Precinct, which lists Jackson Heights among its patrol areas on the NYPD site.
What the law says
Under New York law, non-consensual touching of another person’s intimate parts is investigated as forcible touching, a Class A misdemeanor under Penal Law §130.52. Court guidance from the New York State Unified Court System explains that forcible touching can include squeezing, grabbing or pinching, and the charge may carry up to a year behind bars if prosecuted.
Pattern at the Roosevelt hub
Local reporting has documented that the Roosevelt/74th Street complex has been the site of several recent incidents, including other groping and assault reports that have left riders and nearby shop owners calling for more visible patrols. That coverage notes detectives circulated a wanted flyer earlier in April after a similar groping at the same transfer hub, per a similar groping at the same transfer hub.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or to submit tips online via Crime Stoppers. The NYPD's Crime Stoppers post also urges people not to confront suspected individuals and to preserve any phone or door-cam footage, as noted on NYPD Crime Stoppers.
