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Another Times Square Spider-Man Arrested For Groping Woman
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2014
Modified Jun 22, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2014
Modified Jun 22, 2014
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Not even a week after a Times Square Spider-Man was found not guilty of assaulting a mom, another Times Square Spider-Man has been arrested for groping a woman. The Daily News reports that Moussa Rabaoui, 22, allegedly grabbed a woman’s breasts and butt as he put his arm around her for a photo on Broadway near W. 42nd Street around 5 p.m. Friday.
Like Phillip Williams, the Spider-Man who was exonerated for punching the mom but fined for cursing around her children, Rabaoui is also accused of cursing at the woman after groping her (the Post describes it as "an expletive-laced tirade").
Rabaoui was immediately arrested and charged with forcible touching. It was another bad day for the vigilantes known as Spider-Man impersonators...unless this was all part of some long-running nefarious plan hatched by Mysterio to discredit the webslinger. Either way, this latest round of bad behavior has led to the president of the Times Square Alliance to call for regulations on costumed characters (yet again).
"In the last 10 days alone, we’ve seen two Statues of Liberty arrested, a Spider-Man convicted of harassing a tourist, and now a third character arrested for groping a woman in Times Square," Tim Tompkins said in a statement. "The situation is out of control and a licensing and regulatory scheme must be put in place for the protection of the public as well as those law abiding costumed individuals." Tompkins added he doesn't want to get rid of the "quirky people" who populate Disney Square, but does want a basic licensing system, something that the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association told us he was also in favor of.
Tagged
Costumed Characters
groping
Moussa Rabaoui
spider-man
spider-menace
Times Square
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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