ALBANY — Subway grinders are guilty of as serious an offense as pervs who squeeze, grab or pinch, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday.
The Court of Appeals ruled that rubbing your private parts against another person is enough to merit the charge of “forcible touching” and punishments of up to a year in jail.
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals rejected arguments that the more serious misdemeanor charge could be applied only to cases that involve squeezing, grabbing or pinching.
“Any bodily contact involving the application of some level of pressure to the victim’s sexual or intimate parts qualifies as a forcible touch within the meaning of penal law,” Judge Susan Phillips Read wrote in the decision.
The court’s ruling upheld the conviction of subway rider Luis Guaman, who was arrested in 2009 for rubbing his exposed genitals against an unwitting male victim in a Manhattan subway station.
Guaman pleaded guilty to the charge of forcible touching and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and three days of community service.
In his appeal, however, Guaman said his actions did not meet the legal definition of forcible touching because he did not squeeze, grab or pinch his victim. There was only rubbing.
Guaman argued he should have faced a charge of third-degree sexual abuse, which calls for a jail sentence of up to six months.
The judges rejected those claims.
“It is hard to believe that the Legislature meant for ‘forcibly touches’ to cover only contact that compresses and is painful or physically discomforting,” Read wrote.
Guaman’s lawyer, James McGuire, said he was disappointed by the court’s ruling and declined to comment further.
The court’s decision comes nearly two years after the Court of Appeals, in another grinding case, ruled that private-parts rubbing could not be considered a violent crime under the law.
In that case, the court ruled that Darnell Hardware, who was accused of rubbing against three women in separate incidents, could not be charged with a felony.
He was eventually released without serving any jail time.
