A Little Sexual Assault

So yesterday evening I was a little sexually assaulted.

The specifics:

I was walking my dog along our usual south Brooklyn route. 3 guys walked past me and the one closest to me turned around and full on grabbed my ass. I reacted instantly with a swift elbow up to his jaw which made him retreat. As i was cursing, calling him a disgusting piece of shit.. he said (in Russian):

“Trump will win tomorrow and I can grab whatever whenever I want”

His two buddies just stood there and laughed the entire time.

This all happened in the span of about 35 seconds but as soon as I felt him retreat… I just booked it. I ran around the corner and made sure they weren’t following me. then I called 911 – who basically said if I wasn’t in imminent danger, I should just go to my precinct.

So today, I walked into my local police precinct at 7:33 am. The police officerers I spoke to were very nice and understood exactly why this kind of absolutely disgusting brazenness is unacceptable and valid to report. They then phoned Brooklyn Special Victims Unit. Fortunately, I got a good look at all 3 guys and was able to give an exact descrpition so they took me down to the Brooklyn SVU office to file an SVU report and look through mug shots of registered sex offenders to see if anyone fits the bill.

I ended up spending a total of about 4 hours with the officers and one thing was made really clear to me: it is REALLY important to report the “small” incidences.

Let’s be honest, most women have been through worse. I’ve been through worse. An ass grab seems like the least of our problems. But what the police said to me today really rang a bell: almost every rapist they’ve put away had previous instances that were “smaller”.

The official NYPD term for what happened to me is “Force Touch”. It’s not officially sexual assault. But I am writing this in the hope that someone else who gets groped, grabbed or otherwise made to feel uncomfortable.. finds it in themselves to report it.