A woman confronted a man on a train who was allegedly taking unsolicited videos and pictures of her friend from up her skirt.
The act of upskirting involves the covert taking of an explicit photo from underneath a victim's clothing for one's sexual gratification.
Meagan Price, a.k.a. TikToker @meaganprice63, noticed the man she was sitting next to was looking at the photos he had taken of her friend—who was seated across from him.
Price took out her phone and began recording their interaction in a video that was posted on TikTok, where she asked followers to help her identify the man.
She captioned her post with:
"If you recognize this man, we're trying to report him for taking unsolicited pictures up my best friend's dress."
@meaganprice63 Visit TikTok to discover videos!
"You know, I can see what's on your phone, right?" she told the unsuspecting passenger, to which he feigned ignorance and asked, "sorry?"
She repeated what she saw him doing and he initially denied knowing what Price was talking about.
When the two women remained persistent about his act, the man gave in and repeatedly apologized.
Price's friend asked him to show her the pictures and delete them.
Price kept the camera on him as the friend walked him through the process of deleting the violating photos and video.
"I hope you're embarrassed right now, and I hope you don't have a wife and kids," said Price, as he continued being apologetic.
The friend continued making sure he was also removing the deleted pictures of her from the "recently deleted" file on his phone.
He ultimately thanked them after removing all the pictures. "No, don't thank me. You're disgusting," the friend fired back.
"We're going to report you," she said, to which he replied, "thank you."
"You can leave. Go sit somewhere else," the women told him.
They called over an employee and explained what happened and requested the offending passenger be seated elsewhere.
When the employee asked if he should call the police, the friend said, "yes, please."
TikTokers were appalled over the incident.
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
Some voiced how important it is for female victims to call out suspicious activity.
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
Many commenters also couldn't help but notice the concerned female passenger who was seated across the aisle, who was seen in the clip.
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
@meaganprice63/TikTok
The Daily Dot said Twitter user @TizzyEnt shared Price's video in an effort to track down the man in the video. The train ride on which the incident occurred was alleged to have originated in New York but may have ended in Connecticut.
In the U.K., upskirting is officially a crime that was added to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 after 27-year-old Gina Martin campaigned for 18 months when she became a victim of the violation at a London festival in 2017.
At the time, police informed her they could do nothing about the man who took the unsolicited photo of her because it wasn't "graphic" enough.
In Japan, most cell phones are unable to deactivate the defaulting click sound when taking photos. Many believe this is to discourage men from upskirting in public places like on crowded trains.
@meaganprice63/TikTok
Upskirt photo laws are dubious in much of the U.S. but it is considered a felony in New York.
Connecticut added a specific bill against upskirting to fix the loophole in the state's existing anti-voyeurism laws.