Mom says man 'came out of nowhere,' pepper sprayed her and baby on subway after he asked for phone
LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) -- A young mother's sense of safety was shattered Friday morning after she and her baby were attacked in the subway with what she believed to be pepper spray, all because she wouldn't let the attacker use her cell phone.
The mother spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News about her ordeal shortly after being released from a hospital in Astoria.
The 25-year-old mom said she briefly interacted with the man who would later attack her when they were on the platform of the 36th Street station.
She says the man asked to borrow her phone and she declined.
When the M train they boarded arrived at the Court Street 23rd Street station in Long Island City, the man out of the blue attacked her and her 11-month-old daughter with what she believed to be pepper spray.
"A guy just came out of nowhere, and he throws the pepper spray to me and my child," the mom said.
She said her eyes started burning and she was struggling to breathe.
She says she ran out of the station after the attack, clutching her baby who had also been sprayed.
"I was just crying, thinking about my baby, trying to relax myself, trying to calm myself ... I was screaming to the people like, you know, get out of the train because somebody is here trying to do something bad to us," the mother said.
Police are looking for the man wanted in the attack.
The mother and daughter were treated at Mount Sinai Queens and released a few hours later.
While the mom and baby are OK physically, the mother said this random attack has shaken her sense of security.
"People, they just come to you out of nowhere and trying to do something bad to you. And you the only thing that you're trying to get is home. This is something that I can't even think about it anymore, that I'm just trying to be calm," she said.
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