Tables Turned On Alleged NYC Subway Flasher
NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- She refused to stand there and take it.
So instead, the victim of a subway sexual assault decided to get even. She confronted a flasher right there on a crowded train.
Should you do the same thing?
It's happened to many women when they're riding the train -- men exposing their genitals to people whom they think are vulnerable female straphangers.
"They have a saying; every monkey knows what tree to climb on...you know?" one woman said.
But apparently one sick man chose the wrong tree on this train. A rider posted a YouTube video of an unidentified woman accusing the man in black of flashing her on a "4" train in midtown.
"I'm like why is this person pressing up against me? Then I realize you have all this (expletive) space here. Then I see his penis out! That's it!"
And her furor didn't end there.
"Oh you're getting (expletive) arrested! I'm not leaving your side! My plans are done for tonight. I'm escorting you to the police station, okay?" the woman says.
Emily May posted the YouTube video on her website, ihollaback.org, an organization against street harassment. May said women are calling the fiery female an inspiration.
"She is my hero," May said. "So many women have walked away from situations like that feeling like their voice didn't matter, and she spoke up. And her voice is a voice for an entire city of women, many of which have seen things like this in their own lives."
"I know what I saw. Where the (expletive) is the conductor?!" the woman says on the video.
Self-defense expert Gabrielle Rubin praised the rider for taking control.
"If she was by herself and the train was pretty empty, I wouldn't have suggested that she do that same thing," Rubin said.
Rubin's advice is to play it safe and move away from the flasher if you're alone. She encourages bystanders to speak up, too.
"The more people would've rallied around her would have make him think twice about ever doing this again," Rubin said.
Speaking out really made a difference in this case. Police were able to quickly arrest 51-year-old Mario Valdivia of Queens. He's been charged with forcible touching, public lewdness and sex abuse.
