Souvenir photo could identify alleged Tower of Terror groper [Updated]

Police in Anaheim are looking for the person who groped a woman on the Tower of Terror ride at Disney's California Adventure theme park.

A woman in her 30s was on the ride with her daughter about 5:30 p.m. Friday when the lights went out, as they always do just before the ride makes an adrenaline-pumping, 13-story drop, and she felt someone grab her breast, said Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez.

When the lights came back on, the person let go, she told police, who are working to identify the groper using a souvenir photo taken during the "delirious drop into the fifth dimension and beyond."

The victim, who identified herself to the media as Christina Esquivel, told theme park security and police that she thought a man to her left touched her, but she did not see who it was. She also bought a copy of the photo, usually taken as a keepsake. [Updated at 10:15 a.m.: Esquivel said she did not purchase the photo but used her own camera to take a picture of it from a screen.]

Anaheim police have not identified the woman, but Esquivel has been distributing the photo, saying she wants to identify the man she thinks did it. The photo taken just after the lights came on shows Esquivel with a stunned expression on her face while a man in a baseball cap across the aisle stretches his arm toward her.

"It's not right," Esquivel told KTLA. "I didn't do anything to deserve it, and he needs to pay for it."

Police obtained their own copy of the photo from the theme park and are trying to contact everyone in it as potential witnesses or perpetrators.

"It's fortunate on our part that the attraction does take photos," Martinez said.

-- Tony Barboza

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Comments

[alan]

somewhere in the city of los angeles, and even orange county, a woman was beaten, a kid was molested, a person mugged for the contents of their wallet, a lower income person had to decide whether to buy their medication or groceries for a few days, but the Los Angeles Times decides that a white woman who had her boob touched was worthy of our time.

Thank you for your sense of civic duty.

[TVM]

They may have to rename the ride now.

[BillN]

Alan,
how would you like that woman to have been your sister or your daughter?
yeah, you'd want that guy caught and beaten , right?
besides she is hispanic, but that should not matter, should it?

[anthony]

Alan, what does white have to do with it? Are you a racist? A crime is a crime.

[You Go Girl]

"...somewhere in the city of los angeles, and even orange county, a woman was beaten, a kid was molested, a person mugged for the contents of their wallet" - Alan, this was quite possibly done by a person who wasn't held accountable for earlier misdeeds, such as sexual hrassament. I know of a case of groping that was prosecuted as attempted rape - this is serious stuff, if you had a wife, daughter or mother you would know just how serious.

Kudos to Ms. Esquivel - a Latino name Alan, not white - for going after this pervert - I'm showing this story to my daughters so that they know it's okay to defend yourself.

[KZinCC]

Hey Alan,

Where does it say that she's white? Esquivel is a latino surname. If you look it up on Wiki you'll see that it originated on the Basque area of Spain.

The photo in question is up at KTLA. The woman looking to her left at the man with his hand stretched out is clearly a brunette and looks like a latina to me.

If that was my daughter, my wife, I'd like the guy caught as well.

[jack]

defend yourself with what? the bureaucrats in california won't allow you to do that.

[Jhavajoe1]

Creepazoid-no class. Get the guy. Make an example,that although it
wasn't in the vicious crime category, this is country trying to stay civilized.

[Carly]

Something similar happened to me about 10 days ago just as the park was closing. We were on the last ride, and the elevator was empty except the front row. I was also sitting on the aisle, and the man on the other side reached across just at the first drop. First his hand was on my shoulder, but it slid down to my boob. I told my friends who were with me. When we got out, I saw that the guy was there with his young son. He didn't apologize or acknowledge me or anything. I took a picture of the official picture, but now that I look at it, I only have the guy's elbow. :(

[spatter]

By now the perpetrator is probably safely back in the governor's office...

[inga]

Alan,

I think you fail to recognize that a crime has been committed. And most important, that thanks to people like you, who see sex crimes against women as a non-issue, these types of crimes are horribly under reported. Secondly, the woman's ethnicity is a non-issue.

[jt]

Good luck with this one. Even if you find this guy, you can't prove intent. Anybody falling 13 stories in the dark is going to reach out and grab hold of something. If it's pitch black in there, how does he know he's reaching out and touching your boob. Would it be any diffferent if he grabbed your arm? I'm not advocating women should be groped, but in the context of where you were and what was happening at the time, nailing this guy is going to be a tough sell.

[Susy]

If you think this isn't a crime then you are part of the problem.
Thank you for standing up for what is right Ms. Esquivel!

[Watch alan]

@ Alan
When were you last at disneyland?
There is nothing in the story that says her race and people last names dont mean anything

[Eric]

Could she be mistaken about his intent? It's possible that it could have been an honest mistake. That photo shows very little.

I agree with Alan that far worse things are happening in this country and the world.

[blues lady 2]

I agree with Watch alan, Alan where were you on Friday @ 5:30 ?