A 25-year-old mother and her 11-month-old daughter were hospitalized Friday morning after being sprayed with an “unknown substance” following a dispute with an irate straphanger over a cellphone aboard the subway in Queens, police said.
The assault occurred around 11 a.m. on a southbound M train as it approached the Court Square-23rd Street station in Long Island City, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Police said the suspect, described as an irate passenger, had asked the woman to use her cellphone before the two boarded the train and again while riding. When she refused both times, the suspect allegedly sprayed her and her child as the train pulled into the station.
The woman was hit in the face and arm, and some of the substance landed on the infant’s face and arm as well, police said.
EMS transported the victims to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition. Authorities are still investigating what the substance was.
The suspect fled the station following the assault and had not been apprehended as of Friday afternoon. No description of the straphanger was immediately available. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Transit crime in the 108th Precinct, which includes Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside, is up roughly 36% compared to the same period last year, with 34 incidents reported as of June 15.
According to the latest NYPD data, assaults in the precinct are also on the rise, with 125 reported year-to-date, an increase of 18%.
