Woman on subway attacks rider with an umbrella

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - As if crowded subways during rush hour aren't chaotic enough, one Brooklyn woman virtually inexplicably caused mayhem and injury on a northbound D train at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

A video posted to Twitter shows a blond woman repeatedly spitting the F-word at a woman next to her who was just minding her own business and looking at her phone.

The video shows the white woman, later identified by police as Anna Lushchinskaya, 40, of Brooklyn, hit the other woman on the hand, take off her sunglasses, put her hair into a ponytail, pull out an umbrella, and then—without any apparent provocation—kick the woman.

At that point, other commuters intervene, prompting Lushchinskaya to shout and insult them, the video shows. She smacks the other woman with the umbrella and kicks her over and over again.

"Don't [expletive] with me, you piece of [expletive]," she can be heard saying as fellow riders try to stop her. She then calls the other woman, who is Asian, a racial slur.

The man who was shooting the video, Juan Ayala, whose Twitter handle is @PlatanoMan, then apparently stepped in, grabbed Lushchinskaya, and held her on the platform at 36 Street in Sunset Park until the cops arrived and arrested her.

"Then she tried me so I had to detain her until the cops showed up," @PlatanoMan tweeted with a photo of him holding Lushchinskaya's arms behind her back and another pic of cops hauling her away.

Authorities charged Lushchinskaya with two counts of felony assault. The NYPD said this all started when she apparently bumped into the woman she then attacked.

Cops said Lushchinskaya hit the woman with the umbrella handle and a set of keys, lacerating the victim's face.

The NYPD also said a 30-year-old "good Samaritan," presumably Ayala, suffered scratches when he stepped in to stop and detain Lushchinskaya.

"Thank you to everyone who intervened and provided information," @NYPDTransit tweeted.