A 48-year-old frotteur was arrested Saturday evening in Paris after sexually assaulting an American tourist in the metro. He was arrested in flagrante delicto after attacking this young woman, aged 23, on line 9 in the chic 16th arrondissement of the capital.
Around 10:30 p.m. at Trocadéro station, plainclothes police officers from the brigade for combating transport security breaches (Blast) surprised the little act of a traveler who was following the women too closely. Discreetly, the police followed suit to monitor him. The suspect boards a crowded train heading towards Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis). The man slips behind Byrn, a young brunette Texan who is visiting France.
Taking advantage of the crowd which immobilizes the victim, he caresses her buttocks with the back of his hand, smells her hair while performing pelvic movements mimicking a sexual act. Officials notice that the perpetrator is in a state of sexual arousal. The police approach the young woman and question her about what has just happened. She confirms that she was attacked and that she plans to file a complaint.
The scrubber, who has since left the train, is found on the platform of Alma-Marceau station (8th arrondissement) towards Pont-de-Sèvres. This man, illegally present on French territory, was arrested and placed in police custody in the premises of the regional transport security.
Sexual assault in transport is a recurring problem in the Paris region from which the majority of women suffer. To combat this phenomenon, the RATP has set up an emergency call number to report these facts and plainclothes police officers often arrest the attackers in flagrante delicto.
Like last April 18 at La Chapelle station (18th century), when a 59-year-old man was arrested by the police while he was rubbing against a young woman aged 19.
