Man found with ‘serious’ burns at New York’s Penn Station days after woman set on fire on subway train
The incident comes hours after a man was charged with murder after allegedly lighting a woman on fire on the subway last weekend
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A man was found with burn injuries on his body inside Penn station, according to police.
Around 8.20 p.m. on Friday, officials responded to reports of a man inside the Manhattan train station with burns on his body, a NYPD spokesperson told The Independent in a phone call.
The man has not yet been identified, police said.
The victim, who is reportedly 56 years old, suffered burn injuries to both legs and upper body, according to the New York Post. The Independent has not independently verified this information.
He was transported to Weill Cornell Medical Center and was in stable condition as of late Friday evening.
His burns were serious but not life-threatening, a fire department spokesperson told the New York Times. There is no risk to the public at this time, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire or whether there was any criminality involved.
The available information is still preliminary but a joint investigation between the MTA Police and NYPD is underway.
Police taped off a hallway near the entrance to tracks 11 and 12 inside Penn Station, the Times reported.
The incident comes days after a woman was killed after being set ablaze on the subway.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of lighting the woman on fire and fanning the flames on a stopped F train on Sunday morning. Earlier Friday, Zapeta was charged with one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson.
Penn Station, the busiest transit hub in the Western Hemisphere, sees roughly 600,000 passengers per day.
While the city announced earlier this month that subway crime was down 15.8 percent in November and down 6.3 percent on the year, a series of high-profile incidents have sparked safety concerns for some locals.
Governor Kathy Hochul received backlash on social media after she posted a tweet touting how the subway has become safer on Sunday — hours after the woman died after being set ablaze in an F train subway car.
“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day,” she wrote. “Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up.”
Earlier this year, Hochul announced that 1,000 National Guard troops, state police and transit officers would be deployed to patrol the entrances of subway stations.
“This is not a response to a specific crime. We’re not seeing a trend that’s alarming, but it’s about continuing a strategy that has proven its success and expanding it to protect even more people,” Hochul said at the time.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments