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As a lifelong New Yorker, I've seen a lot of weird and disturbing shit go down on the subway. At the tender age of 12, a man showed me his genitals on the L train; last year, I saw someone get electrocuted to death by the third rail on the same line. I've seen a nurse and goth fight over some spilled coffee on the way to Coney Island, and an unhinged man swinging around a bottle containing liquid that looked an awful lot like piss.But as it turns out, I have not seen it all. Not. Even. Close.Early Thursday, one of the grossest and most invasive things that could happen to a human in a city transpired, and after learning about it, I will never ride the subway the same way again.As a Brooklyn-bound J train passed the 75th Street-Elderts Lane station in Jamaica around 2 AM, an unsuspecting 26-year-old woman "was listening to music with her eyes closed when she felt something wet hitting her. She opens her eyes and realizes that a male is urinating on her," a police spokesperson explained to Gothamist.Upon feeling the stream of a stranger's piss on her face, the woman naturally told him to stop, and he fled the train at the next opportunity. The pisser in question is still at large, and is reportedly around five-feet three-inches and was wearing a red shirt and black pants.
New York City's subway system is currently in a "state of emergency," which critics attribute to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo neglecting its infrastructure. Subway riders have come to expect delays and slower trains—but women have the additional burden of being the victims of subway sex crimes, which had increased by 9 percent this year as of late May, with "subway groping" up 50 percent over the past three years.In short, riding the subway is hell right now. But if you're a female subway passenger, it's even more hellish—not only do you have to deal with the regular bullshit, but you could be flashed, assaulted, or apparently even pissed on at any moment. Even if the governor ever gets around to funding the repairs the MTA so desperately needs, there's still a rampant sex crime problem that isn't going away any time soon.Follow Eve Peyser on Twitter.
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New York City's subway system is currently in a "state of emergency," which critics attribute to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo neglecting its infrastructure. Subway riders have come to expect delays and slower trains—but women have the additional burden of being the victims of subway sex crimes, which had increased by 9 percent this year as of late May, with "subway groping" up 50 percent over the past three years.In short, riding the subway is hell right now. But if you're a female subway passenger, it's even more hellish—not only do you have to deal with the regular bullshit, but you could be flashed, assaulted, or apparently even pissed on at any moment. Even if the governor ever gets around to funding the repairs the MTA so desperately needs, there's still a rampant sex crime problem that isn't going away any time soon.Follow Eve Peyser on Twitter.