Police say a Queens man choked his wife during a fight in their Woodside apartment last night and then took off with their 1-year-old daughter. 30-year-old Alexis Torres, who is employed by the Department of Education, spent the next several hours driving around with the girl before he was finally apprehended on East 15th Street around 9:15. In the end, it was his iPhone that brought him down.
When officers responded to the victim's 911 call, they asked her what kind of phone her husband used. When told it was an iPhone, Lieutenant James Lombardi requested his iTunes account info, and through that they were able to track Torres using the "Find My iPhone" app. At first the phone was turned off, but while canvassing the area, Sergeant Peter Cassiere finally got a lock on the device. Police tracked Torres from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where he was arrested.
Immediately following the arrest, Officer Maritza Mendez realized that it had been several hours since the baby had been fed or changed. So officers went to the nearby CVS and bought diapers and baby food, and then Mendez changed the infant's diapers! (Too bad there's no app for that, amirite?) The child was then taken to Wyckoff Hospital for evaluation. Torres was transported to the 104 Precinct, and charged with Assault, Strangulation, and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
