A brutal attack in Times Square left a 45-year-old man with severe burns on his face and arms after an assailant doused him with a flammable liquid from a nearby food cart and set him on fire. The incident occurred around 4 a.m. Sunday at the corner of West 41st Street and Broadway.
Authorities said that the attacker knew the victim and are currently searching for the suspect. Footage from the attack shows the burned victim standing shirtless on the sidewalk, wrapped in a blue blanket and visibly in pain.
Authorities placed him in an ambulance as dozens of first responders looked on. The video also captures police speaking with a woman, believed to be the victim’s companion, who was dressed in a short dress and high heels.
Before the attack, the victim and the suspect were seen conversing at a food cart, according to sources.
The victim briefly entered a nearby club, and upon his return, the suspect allegedly grabbed a flammable substance from the cart and used it to set the victim on fire.
Investigators initially suspected that the accelerant used in the Times Square attack was contained in a small glass Patron bottle found at the scene. However, sources now doubt that theory. The victim, engulfed in flames, ran about 100 feet before a bystander extinguished the fire using a fire extinguisher, authorities said.
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A Brooklyn woman working at a nearby restaurant described the Times Square area as “pretty scary” in the early morning hours, noting the lack of police presence.
“[The victim] looks familiar,’’ said the worker, Anne Lee, 26. “I see him hanging around here when I have to come in early.
“Yeah it’s pretty scary before 8 or 9 a.m.,’’ she said. “There are no cops on these blocks at all. These side streets. They’re really only on the avenues, and they only give directions to tourists.”
The victim of the Times Square attack was transported to New York Presbyterian Cornell Hospital and is in stable condition, police said.
The suspect fled north on Broadway, and authorities are facing difficulties obtaining security camera footage from nearby businesses to help identify the attacker.
