A man exposed himself to a woman and grabbed her breasts while she was getting into her parked car in her hometown of Bethpage on Monday night, the victim told the Press.
Eileen Scanlon Christofi said she fought the man off and he walked away “zombie-like” on Stewart Avenue before she called 911 to report the incident to police shortly after 9 p.m.
“This guy had surgical gloves on,” the 45-year-old woman said. “That means to me that this guy had serious intent.”
Christofi said she had just gotten off a Long Island Rail Road train from Penn Station after a long day at work when she noticed she was being followed and asked the man what he wanted.
He told her he needed a light for his cigarette, but when Christofi said she did not smoke, he asked for a ride to his friends’ house, which she said she also declined as she got into her car to leave.
“This young man brazenly blocked my ability to close my door with his body and asked me if ‘I could help him with something else,’” according to Christofi.
That’s when she said the confrontation turned physical. The suspect flashed her, pushed himself against her, grabbed her chest and then she fought him off, Christofi said.
“I beat the crap out of him; he did not hit me back once,” she said, adding that he appeared to be high on drugs. “There was no urgency in his walk.”
Christofi said the suspect was last seen walking down William Street. She described him as a scruffy looking white man with dark hair, bad teeth, 23-30 years old wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, a blue/black plaid jacket and pajama or sweat pants.
The irony for Christofi is that her friends and family sometimes worry about her work that takes her to rough neighborhoods, but she was instead victimized in her hometown.
