Joe DeMarini (25), who is in Singapore on a trip was travelling in North-East Line towards Serangoon MRT on April 19, 2017, with a female friend when the incident took place.
In a video uploaded by the victim Joe DeMarini and widely shared on social media, which has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
The elderly man is seen shouting vulgarities at Mr DeMarini and allegedly making sexual advances.
Mr DeMarini, who is from the US, said he tried to diffuse the situation at first. His female friend also intervened, but the elderly man yelled at her and threatened her, Mr DeMarini wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday at about 2.40am.
“He touched me, and I told him not to, and I briefly lost my temper – after that he slapped me on the side of the head,” Mr DeMarini wrote.
On Friday, Mr Joe DeMarini went to file a police report on the incident. In an interview with Yahoo Singapore, he said: “The reason why I went to the police to submit a report is that if he does it again and gets caught, I want them to have more evidence against him. I don’t want someone else to go through what I went through.”
The Singapore Police Force has confirmed that a 70-year-old-man who allegedly harassed, slapped and made sexual advances towards another man on an MRT train has been arrested along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 on the same day at about 10 pm for the offences of causing public nuisance and voluntarily causing hurt.
If convicted of causing a public nuisance, he faces a fine of up to S$1,000. If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt, he faces up to two years’ jail or a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
Investigations against the suspect are ongoing, the police said.
