A 22-year-old woman riding a southbound F train toward the West 8 Street–New York Aquarium station in Coney Island was targeted by a man who exposed himself and performed a lewd act just before the train pulled in on Sunday around 12:30 p.m. The man then got off at the station and fled in an unknown direction, and no injuries were reported.
Per NYPD Crime Stoppers, the incident happened within the confines of the 60th Precinct as the train approached the elevated station, which serves the IND Culver Line's F train on its upper level and the BMT Brighton Line's Q train on its lower level and connects directly to the New York Aquarium via a pedestrian crossover bridge, according to a description of the station shared on Facebook. The suspect remains unidentified, and police have not released a physical description.
Second Reported Sex Crime on Southbound F Trains Near Coney Island in Days
This is not the first report of a sex crime targeting a female rider on a southbound F train approaching Coney Island in recent days. Just two days earlier, on August 28, NYPD Crime Stoppers issued a separate wanted alert for a man accused of groping a 59-year-old woman as a southbound F train pulled into the same station, a case Hoodline previously covered in depth. Both incidents fall within the 60th Precinct, though investigators note that crimes occurring on the train itself and on station platforms are typically handled by NYPD Transit District 34, headquartered at the nearby Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue terminal, while street-level escape routes around the station are patrolled by the 60th Precinct out of its West 8th Street command.
Investigators have access to onboard video from the F train car involved, since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority finished outfitting every subway car in the system with two security cameras each by late 2024, part of a broader rollout that also covers more than 10,000 station cameras citywide. That surveillance network is often what allows NYPD Crime Stoppers to circulate suspect images and appeal directly for public help identifying a fleeing rider.
What Charges the Suspect Could Face
Under New York Penal Law § 245.00, exposing private body parts in a lewd manner or committing a lewd act in public is charged as public lewdness, a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days in jail, probation, and a fine of as much as $500. The charge can escalate to public lewdness in the first degree, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison, if the suspect has a prior public lewdness conviction within the past year or if the act occurs in front of a minor under 16, though nothing in the current case indicates either circumstance applies here.
NYPD Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment, a standard incentive under its partnership with the private New York City Police Foundation. Anyone with information is asked to submit a tip via direct message to @NYPDTips or by calling 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
Part of a Broader Pattern of Subway Exposure Cases
The Sunday incident adds to a string of similar cases across the transit system that Hoodline has tracked this year, including a man accused of exposing himself to a 14-year-old at Fordham Road in the Bronx in August, a flasher who targeted a woman on the 6 train in April, an alleged flasher who targeted a teen at the Medgar Evers stop in Brooklyn in March, and an exposure case at the Shepherd Avenue station also in March. Citywide, NYPD CompStat data for the week ending August 30 shows transit crime complaints have stayed essentially flat this year at 1,434 incidents, compared with 1,436 over the same period in 2025, while citywide reports of other sex crimes ticked up slightly to 3,614, from 3,604 last year.
Those numbers come even as overall major crime in New York City fell 5.6% during the first half of 2026 compared with the year before, with murders down 21% and robberies down nearly 12%, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. New York State committed an additional $77 million in December 2025 to keep enhanced NYPD subway patrols running through 2026, building on transit safety initiatives the governor and mayor launched jointly in 2022. Still, back-to-back reports of sexual misconduct against women on southbound F trains within the same 60th Precinct in a matter of days have renewed local attention on rider safety near Coney Island's busy tourist and residential corridor.
