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Parks Employee Pepper-Sprayed By Man Hogging Chelsea Park Bathroom: NYPD

By Gwynne Hogan | September 4, 2015 2:43pm | Updated on September 8, 2015 8:54am
 The parks department employee was pepper sprayed on Aug. 28 in Chelsea Park, police said. 
The parks department employee was pepper sprayed on Aug. 28 in Chelsea Park, police said. 
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DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan

CHELSEA — A Parks Department employee got pepper sprayed when he tried to interrupt a man who had been taking too long in a public bathroom, police said.

The Parks employee noticed a man had spent a long time in a bathroom stall located in the public restroom in Chelsea Park on Aug. 28 around 7:00 p.m., police said.

When he opened the door to the stall the perpetrator shot a can of pepper spray into his eyes and darted off. The suspect, who police said was in his fifties, has not been apprehended.

Most workers at the park declined to comment on what had happened, although one, who declined to give his name, said he wasn't surprised by the attack.

One time he asked a man to leave the area that was designated for adults in the company of children only and the man lost it. 

"He said he was going to punch me in my face," he said. 

A spokeswoman for the Parks Department confirmed the incident had taken place but declined to comment further.