Metro

With assaults up in NYC, community activist offers pepper spray in Chinatown

By
Social Links for Dean Balsamini
Published May 18, 2024, 1:37 p.m. ET

New Yorkers are jumping at the chance to snag free cans of pepper spray, as random assaults continue to climb in the city.

Over the past two Thursdays, a community activist handed out nearly 100 cannisters of pepper spray in Chinatown to vulnerable New Yorkers.

“Random attacks against women can’t be the new norm,” Chinatown Block Watch founder Karlin Chan, 67, who handed out 94 canisters on Mulberry and Mott streets, told The Post. “The 70s were never this bad.”

A photo of Evelyn Garcia with pepper spray she got during the giveaway.
Upper East Side resident Evelyn Garcia, who was accosted while trying to board a “C” train last week, took pepper spray for herself and friends. Helayne Seidman

The takers included a local crossing guard, an 18-year-old female John Jay College student and a worried dad, Stan Moy, 64, a retired postal worker.

“We need to be a little more vigilant,” Moy said.

“It [pepper spray] makes me feel safer,” added student Emily Guaba, who commutes to John Jay from Long Island via train and subway. “You never know what could happen. Especially out here.”

Karen Wong, 75, of Chinatown, who took a cannister while strolling along Mott Street, said she’s been harassed and assaulted in the past, but declined to elaborate.

Upper East Side resident Evelyn Garcia — who heard about the giveaway and made the trek specifically to get the pepper spray — took five canisters for herself and friends.

She said she was accosted May 11 by a hulking 6-foot-3 man who tried to block her from boarding a C train after she accidentally bumped into him.

A photo of Karen Wong, 75, with a cannister of pepper spray.
Karen Wong, 75, said she has been harassed and attacked in the past, took a canister of pepper spray during a “pop-up”
giveaway. Helayne Seidman
A photo of Chinatown Block Watch founder Karlin Chan, 67, who handed out 94 pepper spray cannisters on Mulberry and Mott streets.
Chinatown Block Watch founder Karlin Chan, 67, handed out 94 pepper spray canisters
on Mulberry and Mott streets. Helayne Seidman
A photo of an NYPD auxiliary patrol car in Chinatown.
Felony assaults are up 7% year to date in the 5th Precinct, which covers Chinatown, while misdemeanor assaults have spiked 35%, NYPD data shows.  Helayne Seidman

She kept the thug at bay by shouting, but fears for her safety riding the rails.

“Women and the elderly should definitely have it [pepper spray]. It’s added protection.” she said.

Felony assaults are up 7% year to date (73 from 68) in the 5th Precinct, which covers Chinatown, while misdemeanor assaults have spiked 35% (153 from 113) and retail theft has soared 43% (361 from 253), NYPD data through May 12 show. 

Across the city, felony assaults are up 4% (9,755 from 9,363) and misdemeanor assaults spiked 7% (15,962 from 14,972), the data show.

It’s illegal to ship pepper spray here.

A photo of Evelyn Garcia walking along Mott Street in Chinatown.
“Random attacks against women can’t be the new norm,” said Chan. Helayne Seidman
A photo of a cannister of pepper spray in a woman's hand.
It’s illegal to ship pepper spray here. But it’s not illegal to own it or use it in certain cases of self-defense. Helayne Seidman

But it’s not illegal to own it or use it in certain cases of self-defense.

Chan said he’s distributed more than 6,000 donated canisters to vulnerable New Yorkers since the pandemic started.

His plan is to continue the “pop-up” giveaways, with the target demographic being “younger mobile women who commute to work by subway, bus or walk.”