The Subway Groper Turned in By His Own Brother
Last week, we were kvelling about Shyane DeJesus, a 22-year-old college student in New York City who fought back when she was groped by a man while waiting for a subway. And she didn’t let the guy who lifted up her dress and slid his hand under her skirt get away when a train arrived: she followed him on the train, punched and kicked him, and shoved her Blackberry in his face to snap pictures. “I’m glad I fought back. I’m going to defend myself,” she told the New York Post. “I want him on the list for sex offenders.”
Well, it seems like Shyane DeJesus might just get her wish. The alleged subway groper, Froylan Andrade, 39, was arrested on Sunday after he was turned in by his brother.
After the story about Shyane DeJesus’s sexual assault and the Blackberry photos she took of the attacker ran in New York City newspapers, Froylan Andrade’s brother made an anonymous (or, it was anon) tip last Tuesday to the police. He said that the attacker in the photos worked at a restaurant called Spring Street Natural in the SoHo neighborhood and that he rode the 7 train to and from his home in Queens. He also provided the cops with his brother’s home address.
Froylan Andrade was scooped up last night and identified by Shyane DeJesus in a lineup. He has been charged with sexual abuse and is expected to be arraigned today.
Congratulations, Shyane, for your bravery and your gumption. Let this incident — from the sexual attack to the ass-whooping to the arrest to prison (one can hope) — be a lesson to the other creeps out there that womenwill fight back.
Review:
The 22-year-old woman who fought back against a subway perv man who pulled up her skirt and groped broke down in tears when she spotted him in a police line-up.
“I knew it was him right away,” Shyane Dejesus, a senior at City College, said Monday. “It is a face I couldn’t forget. ... I was overwhelmed. I started crying.”
The man she identified, Froylan Andrade, 39, was awaiting arraignment Monday night on sex abuse charges — a day after cops arrested him at his Elmhurst, Queens, home.
A self-described “tough cookie,” Dejesus was waiting on the 6 platform at Union Square at about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 23 when the suspect lifted her dress and groped her private area, cops said.
Dejesus, an anthropology major from Astoria, said she was on the downtown platform yelling “this man groped me” but that nobody came to her aid.
“I was hysterical, my hands were shaking, I was overwhelmed,” Dejesus said. “They looked at this man and then at me then turned their heads.”
Dejesus said her instincts kicked in and she began fighting against her attacker.
“I punched him with my left hand even though I’m right-handed,” Dejesus said. “I didn’t want him to get away with it.”
He fled onto the train and took a seat. Dejesus followed and kicked him in the face, snapping his photo with her cell phone camera, she said.
All the while, he didn’t say a word, Dejesus said.
“The minute you fight back, they’re cowards,” she said.
Cops said they were able to arrest Andrade because of a tipster who recognized him from the photo Dejesus snapped.
Andrade was arrested Sunday after his brother gave cops his address.
Both brothers work at Spring Natural, a restaurant on Spring St. Police went there after getting the tip.
“I was raised to fight back,” Dejesus said. “I felt disgusting. I’m nice but I’m a tough cookie.”
Dejesus, who got off the subway at Astor Place, urged other women to fight back too.
“Don’t let them scare you,” she said. “They’re cowards.”
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