Six-Year-Old Maced in NY Laundromat [VIDEO]
A man allegedly attacked another man and his six-year-old daughter at a Bronx laundromat in New York on Saturday evening.
According to the New York Post, the dispute between the alleged suspect, Fernando Gonzalez and the victim Derick Dunn led to the macing of Dunn's child, over the use of a laundry cart.
The victim and suspect's girlfriend had an arguement at the laundromat over a plastic card used by customers for prepayment on washers and dryers, cops said.
In a 17-second surveillance video released, the suspect started fighting with Dunn, held him down with one hand and landed a series of punches with the other. The suspect is then seen readying a bottle of mace for use before unleashing it on the 47-year-old father and his little girl.
The suspect whose name is Fernando Gonzalez turned himself in to police after the video of the incident was released to the public.
According to the fire department, two other bystanders were sprayed with mace during the incident and had to be taken to the hospital. They were treated for minor injuries. One witness, 11-year-old Star Mercer, said she had to go to the hospital after Gonzalez sprayed the mace, because she inhaled it and could not catch her breath.
"I couldn't breathe," Mercer said.
"It was really, really awful," said another witness Rita Ferguson. "The way he beat that man was horrible. He started spraying; we thought it was a gun or something."
Police charged Gonzalez with assault.
This is not the first time that a child has been a victim of mace or pepper-spray. In 2011, an 8-year-old was pepper-sprayed by police officers at a school in Colorado. Aidan Elliot, a second-grade student was reportedly maced after he "threatened to kill his teachers" during a violent tantrum, Huffington Post reported.