A former bodyguard for Jennifer Lopez and other high-profile celebs was pepper-sprayed inside his NYCHA building after confronting a group of teenagers over smoking dope, he told The Post Tuesday.
Willie Gonzalez, 70, said a girl sprayed him in the eyes after he spotted about 17 kids gathered together and smoking weed in a stairwell inside Fulton Houses in Chelsea Monday afternoon as he took out the trash with his Shih Tzu.
Gonzalez approached the group of trespassers with a thick wooden stick — which he has nicknamed “Walking Tall” — and told them to leave.
While most of the youngsters scrammed, a few remained.
One girl began taking photos of Gonzalez, so he took his phone out before she smacked it away. Another girl then deployed the pepper spray, he said.
“When my phone fell on the floor, I went to pick it up and that’s when this girl sprayed me. It went right into my eyes,” he said. “The guy behind me tried to grab me. It didn’t work.”
“That stuff burns like hell. It burns,” he said of the pepper spray.
Before the attack, Gonzalez said the teens were “giving me a hard time, like they had something stuck up their you know” even as he threatened to call the cops.
The NYPD said the incident happened Monday just before 12:30 p.m. and the victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene by EMS.
The girl fled with others, authorities said, but Gonzalez said the alleged perp returned Tuesday.
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He said he warned her, “You’re going to be locked up.”
“I saw her. They’re on film in the entrance,” he said, adding, “It’s a lack of respect. These kids don’t care anymore.”
Gonzalez, a former Rikers Island guard for about a decade until the late 1980s, has also guarded actor Tom Hanks, director Oliver Stone and the late Joan Rivers on top of J-Lo. He owns his own private investigation company and is an ex-bodybuilder.
Groups of rowdy teenagers that don’t live in the building trespass and harass the elderly, smoke joints and steal packages daily at Fulton Houses, Gonzalez said.
It’s been a problem for the last three to five years, and most of the troublemakers come from a nearby school, he added.
He fears someone is going to get hurt, but made it clear he won’t be afraid to confront the terrorizing youths.
“Not at all. I know my limitations,” Gonzalez said. “I know how strong I am. I still bench 450 pounds. I’m very strong. I squat 600 pounds.”
But he stressed, “I’m not going to hit a minor. I’m not going to hit a minor.”
The NYPD released a photo of the suspect in a news release early Tuesday as the department sought the public’s help.
