Cops nabbed an MTA engineer-in-training after he masturbated on a pregnant woman on a Metro-North train headed from Grand Central Terminal to Connecticut on Tuesday morning, law-enforcement sources said.
“He was masturbating against a sleeping pregnant woman,” and she woke up and “witnessed this and became alarmed,” a Connecticut police source said.
The victim called police from the New Haven Line train as it headed to the Fairfield, Conn., station about 9 a.m. to say that she was assaulted in the second-to-last car.
After she told the Fairfield cops what happened, the train was held at the station, and Fairfield police did a car-by-car search, authorities said.
But suspect Manny Ramos, 34, of Brooklyn had slipped off the train when it stopped. Fairfield and MTA cops then searched the surrounding area in Fairfield’s downtown and spotted a man matching a description provided by the victim on a bridge passing over the tracks next to the station.
The woman identified Ramos as her attacker, and he was turned over to MTA cops. He was charged with public indecency and breach of peace before being released after posting $1,000 bond.
A Metro-North spokeswoman said Ramos was hired as a coach cleaner in October 2011 and had been in an engineer-training program since March 2013.
Ramos was immediately suspended without pay, pending the outcome of disciplinary and criminal proceedings.
The train was delayed by almost an hour during the police investigation, one of a series of delays that plagued the New Haven Line during Tuesday’s morning rush hour.
“Everyone at Metro-North is outraged by the disgusting actions that this employee is alleged to have committed, and we are glad our train crew and the MTA Police Department acted quickly to apprehend him,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut.
“We hold our employees to a high standard, and his alleged conduct is completely unacceptable. We will assist Connecticut prosecutors in any way possible as they pursue their criminal case.”