A migrant from Guatemala has been arrested for allegedly lighting a sleeping subway rider on fire in Brooklyn on Sunday morning — then watching as his innocent victim burned to death in what the New York’s top cop called “one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit.”
The savage killing — which happened at about 7:30 a.m. on an idling F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station — shocked commuters, MTA workers and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who said Sunday that the heinous crime “took the life of an innocent New Yorker.”
“As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds,” Tisch said at a press conference.
Patrolling cops smelled and saw the smoke, then found the flame-covered woman, the commissioner said.
They extinguished the blaze, but the woman died at the scene.
Horrifying video obtained by The Post showed the suspect calmly looking on as flames consumed the still-unidentified woman, who stood inside the open subway car doors.
A transit cop walked by, and seemed to pull out a radio and say something as they continued down the platform.
“Do me a favor? Walk down there,” the cop said, motioning down the platform with his radio. “I need this space cleared up.”
The man stood up, then left the scene.
“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Tisch said.
“The body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer.”
Later that day, three high schoolers called police to say they saw the man at the Jay and York Street station on the F line, according to Tisch and the NYPD’s Chief of Transit, Joseph Gulotta.
Authorities were still working to confirm whether he is in the country legally, the sources said.
On Sunday morning, cops, firefighters and medical examiner personnel clad in white Tyvek suits combed the tracks for evidence after they cordoned off the area.
