‘Apartment Karen’ Calls 911 on Black Woman Resting in Lobby, Coughs on Asian Resident Who Stepped In

June 30, 2020

A resident of an apartment in Los Angeles was captured on film making false accusations against a Black woman who temporarily stayed at the building’s lobby.

Facebook user Chevy Chen documented the incident via a post on Monday, noting that the resident named Melissa Pearl called 911 to make a false report against the said woman.

According to Chen, a Black woman named Amour briefly took refuge in the Ravenswood Apartments lobby on Tuesday after having a migraine attack the night before.

“She was let into our building the night before because she was having a migraine attack and couldn’t continue her long bus ride back to Woodland Hills from Hollywood,” Chen said. “She came in to charge her phone and ended up staying the night in our lobby.”

(To view the videos below, you must click on the Facebook post and watch through the social media platform.)

Chen found Amour was speaking honestly when he asked if she lived in the building and she admitted she didn’t.

“She wasn’t causing any trouble, just someone who needed a place to stay while she had a migraine.”

Chen wrote that when he saw Amour the previous night he saw no problem in leaving her be, as a “one night’s sleep could mean the world to someone.”

The next morning, Chen was able to greet Amour as he was on his way out to walk his dog, Pam.

Shortly after, he came across Pearl who told him about a “homeless person” in their lobby and then asked if he can help her “handle” the situation.

Instead of calmly approaching the matter, Pearl decided to call the authorities and make false accusations about Amour.

“I watched a woman falsely accuse a Black woman of having a weapon to 911 dispatch,” he recalled.

It can be heard in the video, that Amour said she had a yoga mat, while Chen agreed on Facebook, saying, “All she had was a yoga mat and her beach bag with her.”

When he intervened and confronted Pearl to say that the Black woman “does not have a weapon,” she retaliated by allegedly coughing on him three times.

“I spoke up immediately. I confronted her about the lie and I got COUGHED ON. She was trying to HURT me because I wouldn’t allow her to keep lying to dispatch.”

After coughing on Chen, the woman then declared she was infected with COVID-19 before moving away from him.

“I still can’t believe this happened to me this week,” Chen lamented. “l never thought I’d see the hate that is outside in the world in my own apartment building lobby! I can’t believe someone would COUGH on ME because she didn’t want me to make sure 911 dispatch knew the truth.”

Chen condemned Pearl for blatantly lying to the police about something “that could have harmed an innocent person.”

“I saw White privilege. I saw a woman using her White privilege against a Black woman, someone who she sought harm to.”

Chen officially filed a police report with the LAPD for battery against Melissa Pearl on Thursday and then got tested for COVID-19 on Saturday.

Pearl, who is reportedly a registered attorney in New York, and owns a poster company; also has a history of elder abuse, having lived in the apartment for five years, according to Chen in one of the videos.

On Sunday, he confronted Pearl for coughing on him and not wearing a mask while in the Larchmont Village Farmers Market selling her posters. She proceeded to put it on as he approached and told others to ignore him and call the police.

Chen updated his post after, revealing that his COVID-19 test results were negative.

Feature Image Screenshots via Chevy Chen

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