Woman on 4 Train Sprayed While Onlooker Shouted Anti-Dominican Slurs: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are investigating a bizarre subway attack that occurred on the Upper East Side — which may be treated as a hate crime — an NYPD spokeswoman told Patch. A 45-year-old woman riding a northbound 4 train was sprayed in the legs Wednesday with an aerosol substance by a man as an onlooker shouted anti-Dominican slurs at the victim, police told Patch.

The two assailants entered the train around 4:35 p.m. as it stopped at the East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue station on the Upper East Side. The alleged sprayer, a man in his 30s, turned his back on the victim when she asked why she was sprayed, police said.

The verbally abusive woman, in her 20s, allegedly shouted at the man to keep spraying the woman because she "f------ hates Dominicans," an NYPD spokeswoman told Patch.

The 45-year-old victim reported the crime when she exited the train at the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station in the Bronx, police said. The crime is currently being investigated as an assault but may be classified a hate crime in the future, an NYPD spokeswoman told Patch.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

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