Man set on fire in Times Square, leaving him horrifically burned: video
A maniac torched a man in Times Square early Sunday in a horrifying attack fueled by an accelerant off a food cart, leaving the victim with burns all over his face and arms, authorities and sources said.
Police are still hunting for the attacker, who knew his victim and apparently grabbed something containing flammable liquid off a nearby cart and used it to torch the 45-year-old man at the corner of West 41st Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 4 a.m., officials and law enforcement sources said.
Video from the scene shows the moments immediately after the attack.
The footage shows the torched man standing on the sidewalk shirtless and huddled in a blue blanket as he is clearly in pain and covered in burns.
Authorities place him inside an ambulance as dozens of first responders stand nearby.
The footage also shows cops talking to an apparent female companion of the victim. The woman was wearing a short dress and high heels.
The victim and his attacker had been engaged in conversation at the food cart before the incident, sources said.
The victim then ducked into a local club. When he came out, the suspect is believed to have grabbed something off the food cart and used its contents as an accelerant to set him on fire, sources said.
Investigators separately told The Post they believed the accelerant was held in a small, glass Patron bottle, which was found at the scene in the middle of where the two men were during the attack.
But sources said that theory does not appear to be accurate now.
The victim ran about 100 feet while on fire before someone ran up and doused him with the powder from a fire extinguisher, authorities said.
A Brooklyn woman who works at a nearby restaurant told The Post the area gets “pretty scary” early in the morning — and there aren’t many cops around to help.
“[The victim] looks familiar,’’ said the worker, Anne Lee, 26. “I see him hanging around here when I have to come in early.
“Yeah, it’s pretty scary before 8 or 9 a.m.,’’ she said. “There are no cops on these blocks at all. These side streets. They’re really only on the avenues, and they only give directions to tourists.”
EMS took the victim to New York Presbyterian Cornell hospital, where he is in stable condition, police said.
The suspect fled north on Broadway, sources said.
Authorities were struggling to get security camera footage from nearby businesses to try to identify the suspect, according to the sources.
