Man arrested for exposing himself, grinning at women on TTC

A man has been arrested and charged with three counts of incident acts after exposing himself to three different women in the past week on the TTC.

One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, was shocked and confused when she noticed the man who had his ankle up resting on his knee with his legs spread wide open for his genitals exposed. It was Monday afternoon, just before 2 p.m. during her ride between St. Andrew Station and Dundas Station.

“Is he doing this on purpose or is he not aware?” the woman, who asked not to be identified, recalled.

She saw that he was grinning and smiling and said, “you could tell he was getting turned on.”

Once she realized what was happening, she snapped a photograph of the man and he left the subway at the next stop.

“I had heard of this happening to people,” she said. “I’ve had friends that have had similar things happen to them unfortunately. But I’ve never honestly thought I’d encounter something like this.”

Toronto police media officer Allyson Douglas-Cook said two incidents were reported on June 6 and one on June 8, all related to an ongoing issue of a man would exposing himself to women.

 

“It happens a little more than we would like,” Douglas-Cook said.

In 2015, there were 12 instances of indecent exposure reported to the TTC and so far in 2016 there have been eight reported incidents, according to TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.

The woman said it took her a few days to contact police because she was in shock and felt uncomfortable.

Ross confirmed that Transit Enforcement Officers made contact with the woman, arrested the man for several similar offences and transported him to Toronto Police.

“This is going to sound really bizarre – when I got home that day I barricaded myself,” the woman said. “I just had a sense of feeling really uncomfortable and unsafe. When I got on the train the next morning to go to work – I just couldn’t sit or stand anywhere near the seats.”

Douglas-Cook said that police encourage anyone who might experience a similar incident to report it as soon as possible so they can catch the person responsible.

“It is such a shocking thing and uncomfortable situation to be in that I think people can’t help but to react,” Douglas-Cook said. “Most people don’t think they will see someone exposing themselves on transit or in public.”

She added that people should be able to ride transit without worrying about what they have to see.

The man is facing a summary offence and it is not yet clear what his penalty will be.

“It’s a summary offence; of the two offenses it is one of the lesser ones to be honest,” Douglas-Cook said.

In similar situations it is common that the penalty will result in the suspect not being able to travel on the TTC anymore.

“This happened to me minutes to two in the afternoon – It can happen any time of the day,” the woman said.