Police Seek New Year’s Day Groper

One woman had a pretty terrible start to 2015, as the NYPD reports they’re after a man who allegedly groped a woman on a local street in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.

Cops say that on Thursday, January 1 at about 5:20am, a man followed the 38-year-old victim and her boyfriend down the street, and when they reached the corner of 19th Street and 5th Avenue, the suspect grabbed the woman’s buttocks and vaginal area over her pants before he took off northbound on 19th Street.

Police describe the suspect, shown in the surveillance video above, as a light-skinned Hispanic man who was last seen wearing a dark sweatshirt with large white lettering and a polka dot winter hat.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577. Police say all calls are confidential.