A man who allegedly set a fellow New York City subway rider on fire using a flaming liquid was arrested, and police believe he is also behind an arson at a different Manhattan station earlier in the year.
The NYPD said 49-year-old Nile Taylor set a cup of liquid on fire and hurled it at a passenger on the downtown No. 1 train as it pulled into the station at Houston Street in SoHo Saturday afternoon.
The 23-year-old victim's shirt caught fire, and he suffered significant burns to his chest, head, neck and arm. He was taken to Cornell Medical Center, according to police, and was expected to survive.
Taylor took off immediately after the incident, but police caught up with him several blocks away near Canal Street and Renwick Street in Hudson Square after police tracked a phone he allegedly stole from another subway rider to his location. He was arrested and faces a slew of charges including assault, arson, reckless endangerment, petty larceny and weapon possession.
While in custody for the flaming weekend attack, police said that Taylor was also charged in connection with a similar incident at a subway station in Chelsea earlier in the year. In that scary encounter, Taylor allegedly threw a container with a flaming liquid at a group of people on the No. 1 train platform at the West 28th Street station. No one was injured in that incident.
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He faces arson, attempted assault and reckless endangerment charges in that incident as well.
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Taylor, who police said is homeless, was being represented by Gretchen Reeser, of the Legal Aid Society. He was being held on $250,000 cash bail, and is next scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
