A Yale student who once dismissed sexual harassment training as “pointless” is now facing charges after allegedly groping a mother on a subway train in front of her young children.
Ari Shtein, an 18-year-old from Michigan, has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he sexually assaulted a 30-year-old woman on an uptown R train in Manhattan.
The woman was riding with her four children, ages four to seven, when the alleged attack occurred at around 3 p.m. on June 28.
According to investigators, the victim was standing in the packed train as it neared the 28th Street station in Chelsea when Shtein allegedly came up from behind and assaulted her as her children watched.
Police said the woman immediately pulled away, after which Shtein allegedly told her: “My bad, didn’t know you were gonna react that way.”
The woman got off the train and sought assistance right away before emergency responders took her to a hospital, while investigators said Shtein left the scene and later turned himself in to police days afterward.
Shtein appeared for arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on July 8, where he was charged with several offenses, including sexual assault, aggravated sexual abuse, forcible touching and child endangerment.
He was released without bail that day and has denied all of the accusations against him.
Ari Shtein, 18, has been charged for allegedly groping a mother in front of her kids on the subway. He denies the allegations
The alleged incident took place on the uptown R train in Manhattan on June 28
The case took an unexpected turn after internet users unearthed published opinion articles the student had authored during his first year at university, questioning mandatory campus misconduct awareness programs.
In one article published last October in Yale’s conservative student newspaper The Buckley Beacon Shtein questioned the value of compulsory sexual harassment training for incoming students.
‘Sometime during our first couple weeks on campus, all freshmen were made to spend an hour and a half in a sex harassment training,’ he wrote.
‘What exactly was the point of participation in this program? Was there anyone in that room who planned to go around harassing and assaulting their classmates without the understanding that it would be wrong to do so?’ he wrote in the article, titled Cut the Fat.
‘Mandatory sexual misconduct trainings …[are] pretty good at convincing people that comments like “you look good in your jeans” are always inappropriate harassment.’
Following news of his arrest, Shtein’s biography was yanked from the newspaper’s masthead, with the publication confirming he would no longer be serving the volunteer role as opinion editor.
Shtein is spending his summer working at the Washington DC-based libertarian think tank, Reason.
Shtein’s high-profile attorney, Priya Chaudhry has forcefully denied all allegations calling the complainant ‘unhinged’ and claiming that the alleged assault wouldn’t have been physically possible under the conditions described
Shtein is a student at Yale and has written for its student newspaper the Buckley Beacon, including an article where he questioned the need for sexual harassment training
The student has retained high-profile attorney, Priya Chaudhry, whose past star studded clients include ‘Creed III’ actor Jonathan Majors and Real Housewife Jen Shah.
‘Every strap-hanger has encountered unhinged people on the subway. Unfortunately, when Ari visited our city, it was his turn. Ari did not assault anyone. He was visiting bookstores with a friend when his life was turned upside down by a woman who falsely accused him of a vile crime,’ Chaudhry told The Post Thursday.
She argued that the allegations were ‘nonsense’ and claimed the alleged assault would not have been physically possible under the circumstances described.
The attorney has also called for surveillance footage from inside the subway carriage to be released, saying it would quickly establish her client’s innocence.
‘His reputation has been destroyed before a single piece of evidence has been made public,’ Chaudhry said, adding that he had effectively been convicted ‘in the court of public opinion.’
Prosecutors, however, allege the incident unfolded in front of four children accompanying the complainant, a factor reflected in the child endangerment charges.
Shtein’s next scheduled court appearance is expected later this summer in August, when the criminal proceedings will continue.
The charges against him remain allegations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the NYPD, Yale University, Chaudhry and Shtein for comment.
