Martial Artist Gave Woman Thumbs Up After Subway Fondling: NYPD

CHELSEA, NY — The man who posed for a photo with a thumbs up after allegedly feeling up a woman on the subway has been identified as a martial artist who was acquitted of sexual abuse charges in the nation's capital, authorities said.

Police identified Matthew Maldonado, 32, as the man flashing a thumbs up to a woman who accused him of grabbing her butt on a south bound-A train on Nov. 28, cops said.

The 34-year-old woman told police that the man approached her from behind and when she turned to confront him, he struck the mocking pose, authorities said.

Maldonado, who used to train at the Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts School in Camps Springs, Maryland, and a friend were accused of sexually abusing a fellow martial arts student in 2013 after they bumped into the woman at a club in Washington, D.C. on New Year's Eve, ABC affiliate WJLA reported at the time.

A jury found Maldonado not guilty of kidnapping and sexual abuse charges, WJLA reported.

In a Facebook post, Maldonado claimed he accidentally rocked into the “delusional” woman on the Chelsea A train and recalled posing for the thumbs-up photo, according to the social media post reported by marital arts website bjjee.com.

“She then says I kept groping her and she will not be sexually assaulted on the train. I tell her she’s delusional, look where my hands are, also, I would never," the Facebook post states.

“She keeps going on, projecting all these sh---y feelings she has about herself on to me. I’m looking at her…she pulls her camera out. Takes a pic of me. I give her a thumbs up.”

No arrests have been made in the November subway incident, police said Tuesday. A NYPD investigation is ongoing.

Photo courtesy of NYPD