A homeless woman was arrested on Saturday in connection with a choking attack on a teen girl outside a Queens sushi restaurant.
Minerva Martinez, 36, was charged with strangulation in the assault, which occurred at about 5:15 p.m. Monday at Watawa Sushi on Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, according to police.
Surveillance video released by the NYPD Saturday, before the arrest, shows a disheveled person with gray hair, a white T-shirt, a black jacket and faded bluejeans walking up behind the seated 16-year-old girl and putting her in a chokehold.
The attacker releases the girl after a couple seconds but remains nearby, apparently menacing the girl. A passerby intervenes, and the assailant leaves.
The girl suffered pain, redness and swelling but was not taken to the hospital, the NYPD said.
Police originally said they were looking for a male suspect but later announced they had arrested Martinez
Martinez has a long rap sheet, including six felony arrests going back to 2015, according to law-enforcement sources.
In January 2020, police found her incoherently talking to herself in Queens and took her to Elmhurst Hospital, sources said.
There was a warrant issued in August for her arrest on a grand-larceny charge, sources said.