NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A man doused an NYPD officer in rubbing alcohol and threatened to set him on fire at a Harlem subway station before he was arrested in a train tunnel, police said Wednesday.
Two plainclothes officers were patrolling the southbound 2/3 platform of the 135th Street station around 2 a.m. Tuesday when the 58-year-old suspect stormed up to them, according to police.
He whipped out a bottle and splashed rubbing alcohol on one of them, police said.
While holding a lighter, he then allegedly threatened to set the cop on fire.
He never sparked the lighter and ultimately fled into a subway tunnel, where the officers chased and ultimately arrested him, according to police.
The officers suffered minor injuries and were transported by EMS to Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
The suspect, James Murphy, was arrested and charged with assault, reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence, resisting arrest, menacing, obstructing governmental administration, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.
He has more than two dozen prior arrests, the New York Post reported.
Just hours later on Wednesday morning, two NYPD officers were stabbed and slashed at a Bronx subway station by a man who was also apprehended.