Woman takes cell phone photo of flasher

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old woman hopes the cell phone photograph she took of a flasher on a New York City subway will help catch the man.

Thao Nguyen said she was riding in an almost empty subway car in Manhattan last week in the middle of the day, when a blonde man began massaging himself and then exposed himself.

Nguyen pulled out her cell phone and took a picture and the man left the subway. Nguyen made a police report and also posted the picture on the Web sites Flickr and Craigslist, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

"I just hope they catch him," Nguyen told the Daily News. "Maybe someone will recognize him. Maybe it will stop other people from doing it -- maybe other women will use their camera phones to stop crime."

New York police Detective Kevin Czartoryski warned women to be careful if they try to take photos of flashers.

"If it can be done in a safe manner, it'd be helpful to locate the suspect," said Czartoryski. "Common sense should be used when deciding if a picture can be taken."