Cops: Girl poisoned by dad out of hospital

The 2-year-old toddler who police said was poisoned by her father in a murder-suicide attempt was released from the hospital Wednesday night, an official confirmed Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Nassau County police identified the girl's father as Khemchan Sulaiman, 45, of 159th Street in Jamaica, Queens, and charged him with second-degree attempted murder. Police said a bitter separation with the girl's mother may have been a motive for his actions.

The girl had been in the intensive care unit at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park, a hospital spokeswoman said. She had initially been taken to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, South Shore, in Far Rockaway with her father after the two were found unconscious and in respiratory distress in a car in Lawrence Monday. She was later transferred to Cohen.

Relatives said they were thankful Priya Sulaiman was alive and well.

"We have to thank that person who made that 911 call," said the girl's grandfather, who did not wish to be identified. "If it were not for the caller, that baby would not be alive."

Police said a passerby discovered the father and daughter in a Toyota Venza about 10 a.m. Monday behind a shopping mall.

That passerby called Hatzolah Ambulance, whose crew called 911 when it saw a white powder in the vehicle, police said.

Investigators believe Priya ingested ammonium chloride, a compound commonly found in fire extinguishers, from a baby bottle found in the car.

That substance and another white, powdery substance were found in the vehicle. The second one was a pesticide that can cause convulsions, seizures and respiratory distress, police said.

Sulaiman, an MTA bus maintainer assigned to the Fresh Pond Depot, will be arraigned at his hospital bedside, police said.

Sulaiman's neighbors said Wednesday they were shocked by the charges. Mary Scott, 76, described Sulaiman as "a nice, pleasant man."

Scott, who said she has lived on the block 32 years, said she used to see Sulaiman, his wife and their daughter together when the girl was a newborn.

"Oh, my God," Scott said. "I just can't believe this."

With John Valenti