‘Spritz’ ditz hit as ‘hater’
Bigot charges vs. Manhattan ‘Macer’
A Florida woman has been arrested for allegedly spewing anti-Asian remarks and pepperspraying four women in Chelsea, and it wasn’t her first brush with the law, authorities said.
Madeline Barker, 47, of Merritt Island, Fla., was awaiting an appearance Saturday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime and harassment as a hate crime in the June 11 incident, the NYPD said.
The 5-foot-4, 130-pound suspect, dressed in bright fuchsia, was captured on camera screaming at the group of Asian women, “Go back where you came from!”
“I thought I would be safe in the middle of Chelsea, in the middle of the day, with so many people around,” victim Nicole, 24, told The Post this week. But “it is not safe going out in the city as an Asian person . . . It’s scary in New York.”
Barker was also arrested a year ago, on June 8, 2021, in Brevard
County, Fla., and charged with battery and aggravated battery there, public records show.
The arrest occurred on Merritt Island, and Barker was released on $5,500 bond four days later, the Brevard County Sheriff ’s office told The Post. No other information on the case was immediately available, the office said.
The frightening encounter in Chelsea left Nicole, a graphic designer, and her three female friends — another 24-year-old and two 25-year-olds — shaken.
The group had left the L.E.A.F. flower show in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and were at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue in Chelsea when they realized around 6 p.m. that one of them had misplaced a bag in the area.
The unhinged woman encountered the group and claimed, “You’re harassing me,” said the victim, who was born in the US and raised in the city.
The matter escalated and the victim said her group told the stranger, “We’re not harassing you, we’re trying to work out which direction to walk.”
“She said, ‘I know what you’re trying to do, you’re trying to harass me,’ ” she recalled. “I responded, ‘We’re not trying to bother you, but if you want us to move, you can ask nicely.’ ”
One of the women started to record the suspect, who smacked the phone out of her hand.
“Then she turned to an Asian bystander whom we didn’t know and said, ‘Take your bitches back to where you all came from,’ ” Nicole said.
The attacker then peppersprayed the four victims and ran, cops said.