Newsstand owner doused with acid

PHILADELPHIA - A man threw gel-like acid in a newsstand owner's face, then escaped onto a subway, police said.

Ayalnesh Abay, a 44-year-old widow with five children, suffered severe burns to the face and chest, and authorities said she could lose her eyes. She was listed in critical but stable condition Friday.

The assailant approached Abay's downtown newsstand as the evening rush hour began Thursday and flung a whitish-yellow acid believed to be lye.

As she shrieked in pain, officers in a police cruiser chased the attacker, but he ran onto the subway, and it departed before they could jump aboard.

A bicycle patrol officer, Sgt. Brian King, used his water bottle to try to rince the acid away from Abay's face, but it would not come off.

''Her skin was smoking, and she was in extreme pain,'' King said.

Firew Gebreyes, 29, who ran to help Abay, said she told him she didn't know the assailant.

King said he believes the attacker was seeking revenge.

''In some cultures, attacks like this happen when they see some disrespect of the male by the female,'' King said. Abay is Ethiopian, witnesses and investigators said.