In an unprovoked attack, a man tossed a cup of burning liquid at a fellow subway rider in New York City, setting his shirt ablaze and injuring him. The attack happened on Saturday afternoon when 23-year-old Petrit Alijaj was about to board the train with his fiancee and cousin. All of a sudden, the suspect identified as Nile Taylor took a cup filled with liquid, lit it on fire and threw it at him.
A video of the incident that has gone viral on social media shows Taylor holding two tin cans with flames leaping from them just before the attack.
Watch the video here:
Mr Alijaj told the New York Post that he shielded his fiancee and cousin from the burning liquid and his shirt caught on fire. He ended up ripping off his burning shirt while his assailant fled the scene.
Soon after, he was taken to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital to be treated for burns. He said doctors told him the burns affected about a third of his body.
Meanwhile, Nile Taylor was arrested and charged with first, second and third-degree assault, first-degree arson, reckless endangerment and more, the NYPD said. The police were able to track him using a mobile phone he allegedly stole from another subway rider.
Notably, he was behind a similar fiery assault a few months ago when he tried to torch a group of commuters at a Manhattan subway station. Police say he threw a container with a flaming liquid at a group of people on a subway platform in the West 28th Street station.
Here's the video:
He was charged with attempted assault, reckless endangerment and arson in the February attack.
