Burned.

Something bizarre and scary happened to me yesterday. I've spoken to the police, but there's nothing they can do. I feel like people need to know that this happened so that, if it happens again, perhaps they'll think more quickly than me and someone can catch the person who hurt me. On Sunday, May 2, somewhere between 11 and 11:15 am, I was walking up the steps to the 7 train subway platform on 46th Street in Sunnyside, Queens. I noticed a man who I felt was walking too close to me, but didn't think much of it. I then felt a burning and a thick dripping on the back of my right thigh. This is gross, but the only way I can explain it is it felt like I'd shat my pants and it was aflame somehow. I reached back and felt that my jeans were not wet but had become partially solid. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, and it didn't make sense to me either. All I could think was "someone threw hot wax on me" or "could something in my jeans have spontaneously melted?" I looked for the man who had been too close, but he was gone. I was alarmed, but mostly confused.. I can't really explain what it felt like, but all I kept thinking was "why did someone throw wax on me?" and wondering how they could have done that, short of carrying around a lit candle. I was traveling to the LIRR station at Woodside to commute to work on Long Island so I couldn't go home to change my pants. I was extremely uncomfortable the entire ride and when I got to work I told a friend what had happened. He pointed out that if my jeans had a polyester content, a flame or acid could have caused them to melt and solidify. His first guess was that someone had held a lighter or cigarette to my pants. When I took off my pants I found two raised singe/burn marks on the back of my leg. There was no hole in my jeans. I believe that someone threw a chemical on me which burned me through my pants and also caused my pants to melt/solidify where the chemical had been. I didn't get back to the city until around 11 pm and so couldn't call 311 until this morning. When I told them what happened they forwarded me to 911 who sent two officers to my apartment. The policemen agreed that it seemed like I'd been attacked with a chemical. They said that I was welcome to file a report but that since I didn't actually see anything it didn't make a lot of sense. They said what they usually do in such a situation is spread the word through their precinct so that people will keep their eyes and ears open. Much as I wish they'd taken my pants to forensics or something, I do agree that filing a report is kind of pointless beyond recording that it happened, and I'm frustrated and confused. All I can think to do to make myself feel better is to spread the word myself. Maybe if another woman feels a strange burning through her clothes, she'll think faster than I did. It was just such a strange thing (whose pants burn and solidify as they walk down the street?) that I couldn't even process that this was any sort of attack until I was able to remove my pants and check my skin.. but unfortunately, by that time it was hours later and I was in another county. I wish I had been paying more attention to the guy (not that I can say for sure it was him, but I don't know who else could have done it..), or snapped him with my camera, or something.. he was almost completely nondescript: mid-height, mid-weight, probably in his 30s, wearing a red shirt. I've attached pictures of my jeans, and also one of my burn (which has proven virtually impossible to photograph.. the attached photo is after I removed my bandaid). Thank you so much for helping me warn other women! Submitted by Shoshanna