An Ivy League pedigree won’t save you from the NYPD. Ari Shtein, an 18-year-old Yale University student from Washington, D.C., found that out the hard way when cops cuffed him on July 8. The charge? A nasty alleged sexual assault aboard a crowded Manhattan subway car. His high-profile defense attorney, however, claims the whole thing is a fabricated nightmare.
According to court documents, Shtein is staring down a heavy slate of charges. They include first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree aggravated sexual abuse, forcible touching on transit, and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
It allegedly went down on June 28 around 3 p.m. The victim, a 30-year-old woman, told police she was assaulted on a northbound R train near the West 28th Street and Broadway station. She got off the train and went straight to a local hospital via ambulance. The suspect stayed on the train.
Shtein pleaded not guilty. Judge Ilona B. Coleman released him without bail, and he is due back in court on August 26.
His lawyer, Priya Chaudhry, isn’t playing nice. She claims Shtein was just a tourist visiting bookstores with a buddy when a crazy situation found him. “Every strap-hanger has encountered unhinged people on the subway,” Chaudhry said, pulling no punches. “Unfortunately, when Ari visited our City, it was his turn.”
Chaudhry argues the physics of the accusation don’t even make sense. She claims that based on the accuser’s own story, the victim would have needed to be wearing a swimsuit for the alleged contact to even be physically possible. She also noted the train was packed and begged witnesses to come forward.
Meanwhile, the fallout at Yale was instant. Shtein, who wrote columns for the Yale Daily News, was suspended indefinitely by the student paper. In a twist of irony, Shtein previously wrote a blog post on his personal Substack criticizing mandatory campus sexual misconduct training, calling it useless. Now, he has to convince a New York jury that he isn’t the monster the prosecution says he is.
