Suddenly, those overalls seem creepy.
The New Jersey man who was dressed as video-game icon Super Mario when he allegedly groped a woman in Times Square is just one of many costumed weirdos trolling the plaza and harassing visitors.
"We have seen an uptick in complaints against the actions of the costume characters on the plazas, and it is certainly a cause for concern," said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which provides security for the tourist hot spot.
Damon Torres, 34, grabbed the upper thigh of a 58-year-old woman on Wednesday while she tried to walk down 42nd Street, court documents allege.
Seth Gottfried
NO GAME: Damon Torres (above) is escorted yesterday after his grope bust while dressed as a Super Mario.
YouTube
NO GAME:Damon Torres (above) is escorted yesterday after his grope bust while dressed as a Super Mario.
Torres — dressed as Nintendo's plumber character but with no affiliation to the company — had allegedly blocked the woman's path on 42nd Street near 4 Times Square and would not let her pass, law-enforcement sources said.
"He reaches out and he cops a feel, grabbing her thigh. And then he just walks away," one source said.
The woman complained to a Times Square security guard, who took her to the NYPD substation.
She saw her alleged groper pass by while making the report, and cops immediately arrested him.
Torres was arraigned yesterday on charges of harassment, forcible touching, and pot possession. He was released without bail.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the Mario gig was the primary source of income for Torres, who does not have a criminal record in New York, according to sources.
His lawyer declined to comment.
It's the latest example of a masked Times Square character gone wild.
A man dressed as "Sesame Street" character Elmo was busted in September in Times Square for disorderly conduct just two months after being hauled off in an ambulance after going on an anti-Jewish rant, according to reports.
Two Marios and a Luigi, — the video-game character's brother — who pose for photos with tourists in Times Square had little to say yesterday on the alleged groping.
"I don't know, guy," one Mario character said when asked about the incident.
Duane Jackson, 60, a Times Square vendor for 16 years, said the creepy characters are out of control.
"These guys in outfits, they can get kind of outlandish. I'm wondering if the city is going to do a regulation on them," he said.
One of the costumed characters even admitted he and his ilk are creepy.
"I've been doing this four years. Everyone I've met is a degenerate [such as an] alcoholic [or] crackhead," said one man dressed as a giant white robot. "You never know who's under that mask."
Additional reporting by Laura Italiano
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