A 25-year-old mother and her 11-month-old daughter were hospitalized Friday morning after being sprayed with an “unknown substance” during a dispute with an irate straphanger over a cellphone aboard the M train in Long Island City, according to police.
The assault occurred around 11 a.m. on a southbound M train as it approached the Court Square–23rd Street station, an NYPD spokesperson said.
Police said the suspect, described as an angry passenger, asked the woman to use her cellphone both before boarding and again while on the train. When she refused both times, the suspect allegedly sprayed the woman and her child with an unidentified substance as the train pulled into the station.
The woman was struck in the face and arm, while the substance also made contact with the infant’s face and arm, police said.
EMS transported both victims to Mount Sinai Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition. Authorities are still working to determine what the substance was.
The suspect fled the station following the incident and had not been apprehended as of Friday afternoon. No description of the assailant was immediately available, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Transit crime in the 108th Precinct—which covers Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside—is up approximately 36% compared to the same period last year, with 34 incidents reported as of June 15. Assaults in the precinct have also increased, with 125 reported year-to-date, an 18% rise, according to NYPD data.
