Man throws flaming liquid on New York City subway, burns fellow rider | EUROtoday

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A New York City subway rider was taken to the hospital on Saturday afternoon for burn accidents after a stranger tossed a cup of burning liquid on the man.

The sudden assault occurred on the Houston Street subway station on the 1 line in decrease Manhattan, the New York Police Department stated.

The sufferer, recognized as 23-year-old Petrit Alijaj by The New York Postwas about to board the practice together with his fiancée when the suspect took a cup crammed with liquid, lit it on hearth and threw it at him.

Mr Alijaj stated he shielded his fiancée and cousins from the fireplace, inflicting his shirt to go up in flames. He informed The Post he tried to place the flames out together with his palms. As he threw his shirt off, the suspect fled from the scene.

Mr Alijaj was taken to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital to be handled for burns. He stated docs informed him the burns affected a couple of third of his physique.

The suspect, recognized as 49-year-old Nile Taylor, was arrested and charged with first, second and third-degree assault, first-degree arson, reckless endangerment and extra, the NYPD stated.

Police officers tracked Taylor on the intersection of Canal Street and Renwick Street utilizing a cellphone he allegedly stole from one other subway rider.

Taylor was additionally charged with petit larceny, prison possession of a weapon and prison possession of stolen property within the fifth diploma.

Police are additionally investigating the same encounter in February when a person threw a container with a flaming liquid at a gaggle of individuals on a subway platform within the West twenty eighth Street station.

While violent crime is uncommon within the metropolis’s subway system, which serves about 3 million riders a day, some high-profile assaults this 12 months have left some riders on edge. They embody the dying of a person who was shoved onto the tracks in East Harlem in March and some shootings.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in March introduced that a whole lot of National Guard members could be going into the subway system to spice up safety. City police stated 800 extra officers could be deployed to the subway to crack down on fare evasion.