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Judge Sentences Ex-Cop Who Masturbated In Subway Station To One Year In Prison
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 7, 2017
Modified Feb 7, 2017
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 7, 2017
Modified Feb 7, 2017
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The former NYPD detective who was found guilty of "manipulating his penis outside of his pants" at a Manhattan subway station while making hissing noises at a woman has been sentenced to a year in prison. The NY Post reports that Judge Ann Scherzer told Steven Esposito that subway riders should "be free of public masturbators and to be free of former police officers just taking out a gun and pointing it at innocent people because they’re upset they got caught."
In 2015, the NYPD released surveillance footage of a man who allegedly masturbated at the Fifth Avenue N/R station and threatened the victim, as well as a good Samaritan assisting her. The police report noted that the victim "heard a hissing noise beside her. When she looked to see what the noise was, she observed the suspect manipulating his penis outside of his pants."
After she explained what had happened, the good Samaritan took out his cellphone and followed Esposito and filmed him. When Esposito reached the exit, he allegedly "pulled out a black handgun, pointed [it at the good Samaritan]" and told him to mind his own business.
Right after the NYPD released the footage, Esposito was arrested.
During his trial, the victim testified, "He was playing with his penis, and I was scared... He was looking at my face, and smiling, and making sexual noises, like he was going to force me to give him a blow job or something," and said of being threatened with the gun, "We thought he was going to kill us, or try to intimidate us or something."
But Esposito's defense was that he was merely urinating, and his attorney at the time claimed the his noises were "consistent with urination... He either pees in his pants or pees in the subway station. And then this woman comes upon him and starts screaming hysterically.'"
At sentencing, the defense tried a different approach. From the Post:
Defense lawyers urged the judge to give Esposito no jail time, arguing that he lost his wife in 2009 and that the crime was “an illicit expression of pent-up sexual desire.”
“Put yourself in this man’s shoes,” attorney Marc Fernich said in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“I cannot,” Scherzer interrupted.
The lawyer persisted, adding that Esposito simply became “flustered and spontaneously panicked in the heat of the moment” when he pulled out his firearm on the victim and a good Samaritan who came to her aid at the 59th Street Station.
“I’m very sorry for him” said Scherzer, dryly. “But I would have hoped that he would have found a way to tend to his sexual needs other than masturbating on a subway platform, staring at a young woman while making hissing sounds.”
When Fernich tried to get the conviction tossed because one of the lawyers apparently didn't realize that there would be a possibility of prison time, Scherzer said, "This is a detective who has served with the NYPD for 20 years — he obviously knows how this works."
If you see or experience sexual misconduct in the subway (this includes seeing a masturbator, being groped, being grinded on, etc.), you can report it to the MTA and police on this website. There's also a place for you to upload photos and/or video. Don't let the perverts win.
Tagged
ex-cop
steven esposito
subway
subway masturbator
subway pervert
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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