If you’re a woman, there are few places you can go alone without the fear of being harassed, hurt, or worse. So when one woman on TikTok by the name of Shea shared a video of a bus ride she took where a man stared at her for the entire ride, unblinking, it was like something many of us have experienced before.
Shea’s video is less than 10 seconds long, but it’s long enough to understand her uneasiness as a man with bloodshot eyes stares at her from across the aisle. The fact that she posted the video lets us know that, despite the creepy bus rider, she got to her destination alive and well. Or as well as you might expect after feeling uncomfortable for the entire ride.
@sheasaidso911 #mta #nyctransit #fyp #crazyman ♬ delulu – NESYA
The woman gave an update after she shared the bus ride video.
Shea wrote on the screen of her video, “Stared at me the entire ride without blinking.” And, sure enough, for the entire six-second video, the man stares at her, without saying a word and without blinking. It’s unclear if she said anything to him after she stopped filming or if he did or said anything to her that was threatening.
For the most part, however, the video is a small piece of what women deal with often.
“If the ride was 10 minutes I know it felt like 30,” someone commented on the TikTok. “I hate public transportation because it forces you into close proximity with people you would never otherwise be around.”
Another commenter, a woman, wrote, “Lowkey why is this normalized?”
“Prayers for women everywhere,” someone else commented. “We have to be alert, diligent, and prepared always. Consider getting protection and never let your guard down. Too much evil in this world.”
Shea doesn’t give any other information in the video or in the caption, except to say this took place on public transit in New York City. She also hasn’t shared other videos in similar situations, but even if she doesn’t normally take the bus or the subway, she might be more motivated than ever to not have to again.
Others couldn’t help but notice the timeliness between Shea’s video and the murder of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska when she was stabbed on a public bus by another rider named Decarlos Brown Jr. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Per the Associated Press, Brown was arrested after he stabbed Zarutska to death.
After that happened, and then Shea shared her TikTok video about a “creepy” man on her own bus, people commented about noticing the similarities. Luckily, in Shea’s case, nothing happened to her, and she shared in the comments under another TikTok that she is fine. But, more than likely, she is still sufficiently freaked out.
