QUEENS — Police arrested a man who was accused in a widely shared Facebook video of groping a 16-year-old girl on a bus in Queens Tuesday, officials said.
The victim told police that the suspect, identified as 36-year-old Pablo Lezano, sat down next to her on the Q53 bus around 3 p.m. on Oct. 25 and told her, "I don't care about you. My house is your house."
She did not know Lezano and did not understand him when he then started speaking Spanish to her, according to police.
Lezano stroked and touched the girl's inner thigh, and grabbed her hand, police said.
When the bus stopped at the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and 60th Road, police officers from the 112th Precinct boarded the bus, according to the NYPD. The scene was caught in a Facebook video by a man named Moise Morancy.
Lezano was arrested and charged with forcible touching, a misdemeanor, according to the NYPD. There was an active warrant out for Lezano's arrest, police said, but they couldn't provide information on the warrant.
Lezano has a known gang affiliation with the Latin Kings, sources said.
Morancy's video shows him confronting Lezano about the groping right after the incident. The video shows both Morancy and Lezano being handcuffed, and then Morancy being released.
Police did not have information about Morancy's involvement in the events leading up to Lezano's arrest and could not elaborate on the video.
Morancy did not respond to requests for comment.
