ARLINGTON, Va. — A woman who was the victim of an upskirting incident at a Virginia Metro station sat down with WUSA9 Thursday to share her story, in hopes it will keep others safe.
On Tuesday night, the woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, was riding the escalator at the Pentagon City Metro when she noticed a stranger holding a phone under her dress.
“I felt something at the top of my thigh behind me,” she said.
A man, who she says was clean-cut and wearing a tie, got within inches of her as she rode the escalator.
"I said ‘what are you doing?’" she recalled. "And I looked down, saw his phone in his hand and it was the hand that was in my dress.”
Immediately, the victim pulled out her phone to dial 911. That’s when the suspect ran away, down the up-escalator, and towards the mall.
The victim chased after him.
“I’m not going to let you get away with this if I can," she said. "Unfortunately I was wearing heels and I couldn’t catch up to him. But if I had my trainers on - I’m pretty sure I would have got him..”
After filing a report with police, the victim turned to social media, posting on Reddit about what happened. She described herself as safe, but said she felt the need to "scrub myself with steel wool."
“I had no idea that anyone would even respond," she said. "I saw like three comments on it after an hour. And then I woke up to just a barrage of support. Super overwhelming. No idea that people actually cared about these things."
By Thursday afternoon, the post had received well over 1,200 up-votes and over 100 comments, mostly expressing support.
"It makes me have just a little more faith in the world I guess," the victim said.
Now she just hopes the man that did this, gets caught.
“This is definitely not this man’s first time doing this," she said. "With the way he got away with it and how quickly he was able to respond and react and play it off. I’m not the only one and I probably won’t be the last one if they don’t catch him…”
WUSA9 reached out to Arlington County Police to confirm the incident. They say they continue to look for the man responsible in this case. He is described as being between 25 and 30 years old, standing around 5-foot-9 and wearing a red zipped jacket of hoodie.
He is wanted for "unlawful filming." While APD said they have not had any similar incidents reported, they did share data regarding the number of crimes within a 2,000-foot radius of the Pentagon City Metro thus far this year, and how they compared with 2022 data. The crimes with the biggest increases are robberies, simple assaults, damage/destruction of property, car thefts, shoplifting and disorderly conduct.
