Two New York City Police officers and several tenants were injured at an apartment building in Harlem after a man wanted on domestic violence charges locked himself in a room and set it on fire.
Cell phone video from a nearby building shows the flames pout of of the second-story window Saturday afternoon. The fire ignited at the Lincoln Houses by a man who police say barricaded himself inside.
Firefighters were dispatched to the apartment near 5th Avenue and 135th Street around 3 p.m.
Destiny Robinson watched from the sidewalk as her mother went in to rescue her 9-year-old sister and 15-year-old brother trapped two floors above.
"My brother and sister were in that room right there, he opened the window and that's when I saw the flames go up, so I was just panicking, like 'the kids, the kids, please get my brother and sister out the room' because I didn't want to see anything happen to them," Robinson said.
"My mom ran inside the fire without a mask and I started panicking because it took them so long to come downstairs," she said.
Investigators say they were called to the building for a domestic dispute and discovered a man who had locked himself inside the apartment and then set the fire when the knocked on the door.
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Aaron Ganaway captured the moment a cat jumped out of the second-story window when the flames forced the pet off the ledge and down to the officers below.
Police were eventually able to force their way into the apartment room. The man was brought out unconscious and taken to the hospital.
Seven other people were hurt including two police officers.
