City Desk: Walk On By

N AT I O N A L R E V I E W/S E P T E M B E R 26, 2005 ket now. As I came abreast of the pair, the younger man had been forced to his knees. The bearded man was explaining to anyone who would listen, and many would, why he had grabbed him: He was taking pictures up women’s skirts. The accusation acted like a promotion: Sud- denly the scene was compelling.

You saw how the thing was done. The prone man was holding a plastic shop- ping bag; a camcorder, pointing up, could easily be maneuvered to get a shot. (It wouldn’t have worked in Mathew Brady’s day; the flesh might have been willing, but the technology was weak.) A summer farmers’ market would have been an ideal casting call. “Look at his camera,” someone suggested, as if we would confirm the misdeed then and there. No one moved; that task was left for the cops.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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N AT I O N A L R E V I E W/S E P T E M B E R 26, 2005 ket now. As I came abreast of the pair, the younger man had been forced to his knees. The bearded man was explaining to anyone who would listen, and many would, why he had grabbed him: He was taking pictures up women’s skirts. The accusation acted like a promotion: Sud- denly the scene was compelling.

You saw how the thing was done. The prone man was holding a plastic shop- ping bag; a camcorder, pointing up, could easily be maneuvered to get a shot. (It wouldn’t have worked in Mathew Brady’s day; the flesh might have been willing, but the technology was weak.) A summer farmers’ market would have been an ideal casting call. “Look at his camera,” someone suggested, as if we would confirm the misdeed then and there. No one moved; that task was left for the cops.