TIMES SQUARE — A Forever 21 customer who caught a man slipping a camera under her fitting room door chased down the suspect in the subway before recruiting a group of fellow passengers to help hold him down until police arrived, the NYPD said.
The 22-year-old woman, from Brooklyn, told police she was trying on clothes in a fitting room at the Forever 21 at 1540 Broadway, between West 45th and West 46th streets, around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when she noticed someone had placed a camera inside a sneaker and slid it underneath the door.
After snapping a photo of the sneaker and camera, the woman raced out of the fitting room and was telling an employee what happened when she saw Tommy Chan, 39, “quickly” leave the fitting room, police and the the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.
“Hey, you were recording me in the fitting room,” she said after approaching Chan, police said.
Chan said, “What?” and then ran out of the store, the NYPD said.
The woman ran after Chan but lost sight of him before heading into the Times Square subway station, police said.
When she got onto a southbound N train, she noticed Chan was on the same train, the NYPD said.
As the train approached the 23rd Street station, the woman grabbed Chan and held onto him, police said.
Several passengers jumped in and helped her hold Chan down until police arrived at the Union Square station, the NYPD said.
When officers arrested Chan, they found the camera the woman snapped a photo of tucked inside his underwear, the DA said.
Chan was also wearing the sneaker he’d slipped under the fitting room door, the DA said.
He was arrested and charged with unlawful surveillance, prosecutors said.
Chan was released under supervision Monday and is expected to appear in court Sept. 26, the DA’s office said.
In April, another customer at the Forever 21 in Times Square told police that a man had taken photos of her while she was trying on clothes inside a fitting room.
Forever 21 and an attorney for Chan did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
