NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A man who was arrested on Saturday afternoon for allegedly throwing a flaming object at a subway rider, setting him ablaze and causing him injury was identified as the suspect in a similar incident that took place in February, the NYPD said.
Nile Taylor, 49 is accused of throwing a cup of flaming liquid at 23-year-old Petrit Alijaj at the Houston Street-1 line subway station, near Varick and King streets in Hudson Square, at around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Alijaj told the New York Post that he and his fiancee were about to get off the train to go to the Statue of Liberty when Taylor allegedly threw the liquid, and that he blocked his fiancee with his body.
Police said that the flames climbed the victim’s body and he sustained upper torso injuries, but was transported to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital in stable condition.
“The doctors said 30% of my body was burnt. But I don’t think it is 30%. Maybe more like 10%,” Alijaj told the Post.
Taylor fled the station, but not before snatching a phone that a woman dropped at the turnstile, police said. Because he had the stolen phone, cops were able to track him and apprehended him near Canal and Renwick streets at 3:15 p.m.
In this case, Taylor is charged with first- and second-degree assault; two counts of third-degree assault; arson; reckless endangerment; two counts of petit larceny; criminal possession of a weapon; and criminal possession of stolen property.
Taylor caught more charges when police linked him with a similar incident earlier this year, in which the unhoused man is accused of throwing a flaming container at a group of straphangers in another Manhattan subway station.
Police released surveillance footage from the Feb. 5 incident and provided details about the crime on March 13.
The video shows Taylor holding two containers filled with fire near the turnstiles at the West 28th Street-1 line station in Chelsea at 7:40 p.m. that night.
Police said that he hurled one of the containers at a group of people who were standing on the southbound platform waiting for a train, but missed the group. Authorities said that no one was injured as a result of the incident.
Once he was connected to the crime, Taylor was charged Sunday morning with attempted assault, reckless endangerment and arson.