Have you seen this man? About ten days ago, New York resident Miss Thao Nguyen did, and apparently she saw more of this guy than she expected.

Thau writes that she was riding on the R train uptown (Manhattan) at 3pm on Friday August 18th when a man sitting almost opposite her "began molesting himself on the train". Apparently Thao was on her way to work in the near-empty rear carriage of the train when a man entered the car and sat adjacent to her and kept staring at her.

I tried to avoid eye contact with him but I had a feeling he was up to no good when he kept massaging his crotch. I couldn't believe this guy had the audacity to do something like this in the middle of the day! So I took out my cell-phone and turned on the camera. Then I aimed the camera at him and took a quick shot. He quickly zipped himself up and got off at the next stop.

Thao advised a policewoman at 34th St station of what had happened - the policewoman wrote down a description of the man, but when asked if she wanted the picture the policewoman didn't take it. The policewoman apparently said that she would radio other officers and they would be on the lookout for that man ..yeah right, a white guy with light hair and a black shirt and jeans on in Manhattan.. gee, there's not many fitting that description. pfft.

Anyway, to cut the story short, Thao published the photo on Flickr and word has got out in the blogosphere (including the infamous pages of dailyrotten.com on 28th August), and her last update from a couple of days ago says that The Daily News has contacted her and want to publish the photo and story in the newspaper. I have not heard if the guy has been caught yet.

What's shocking is that when Thao initially talked about this to her friends, most of them said they had experienced similar things on the subways - one of them being flashed only a week prior. Damn this is a sick city.

Even more shocking is the attitudes of some of the sick individuals who have commented in defense of the pervert who started masterbating over her in public. Hell, that is sexual assualt as far as I'm concerned, yet some of these ignorant pricks are trying to make out that it is somehow her fault (yeah, you know exactly the type of asshole I'm talking about). Here's another example:

Stop refering to her as a victim, she is *not* the victim, she's is an offender on an unrelenting offensive. She is in unceasing pursuit of this person who did *not* even stalk her. She is doing all she could to scandalise this guy in the worst possible sense and the most universal, for now and ever and everywhere, and seek his limitless ruin for what was a very minor misdeed of *no* tangible harm ..       ..He is *not* the "evil" one, SHE is - malicious in pretension and callous in cruelty.

Migod, how ignorant can one be? Unfortunately there's several people commenting there with similar attitudes. Unbelievable. What's the bet every last one of them is a male. I wonder what the attitude of these *cough* compassionate people would be if they had some guy masterbate over them in the train? Somehow I don't think they'd be saying it was their own fault. I can appreciate the innocent until proven guilty ideology, but with photos of the guy looking directly at her with his dick out? Hello?

[update] I initially removed the photo from this post on the off-chance that this guy was somehow innocent of what he was being accused of, which seemed highly unlikely, all things considered, but I'd rather not start condemning someone until they have had an opportunity to explain themselves (or confess). However, the photo has since been published on the front cover of the NY Daily News, as well as cover stories in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Drudge Report, United Press, etc etc. People may question the ethics of publishing this guy's photo everywhere before he has a chance to explain (even though he was caught 'red-handed' so to speak), but heck, you can bet that the number of pervs exposing themselves on the subways and other public places is going to drop as a result. Good work.

Update 10:45pm Wednesday Aug 31st, 2005: they just showed the guy on the news on tv - he handed himself in earlier this evening and has been officially arrested after being picked out of a lineup by four separate female victims he allegedly masturbated in front of. Creep.