NYPD Pepper-Sprayed My Babies: Mom

New York police pepper-sprayed a woman and her family—including a five-month-old and two-year-old—after accusing her of trying to get on the subway without paying, a lawsuit picked up by the Courthouse News Service claims. Marilyn Taylor says she was getting on the subway with her four- and two-year-olds, five-month-old, and their father on Aug. 9; she took a stroller through a service entrance, which police took to mean she was skipping the fare, the complaint says. They stopped her, and then the "aggressiveness" began, according to the filing.

After she knelt down to comfort her upset four-year-old, police pepper-sprayed her, hitting the whole family in the process, reads the complaint, which continues, "The pepper-spray caused the children to scream out and choked the two-year old, who went into fits of vomiting." Taylor was handcuffed and pushed hard enough to bruise. At her arraignment she was told the charges would be dismissed so long as she didn't have another arrest within a given period. But the parents "suffered ongoing eye injuries and all three children suffer emotional harms," the complaint continues. The suit targets the city, the police department, and three officers. (More pepper spray stories.)