Man killed sleeping woman on NYC subway by lighting her on fire, report says

(Editor’s note, update: According to the NYPD, a man has been arrested in relation to the woman’s death.)

According to the New York Post, a lunatic threw a lit match over a sleeping subway passenger on a F train in Coney Island on Sunday morning, causing her to explode into flames, killing her.

According to the publication, the sleeping woman was on an MTA subway train when she was burned alive early on Sunday morning when an unidentified man flipped a lit match onto her, setting her on fire.

According to the complaint, NYPD police officers arrived to the Coney Island subway station on Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn at around 7:30 a.m.

A man sitting across from her is said to have attacked her. Police told The Post that woman was sleeping in a sitting position on the idle F train when he got up and threw a lit match on her.

After that, the male suspect left the station. According to the complaint, EMS pronounced the woman deceased at the site after emergency personnel put out the fire.

The Post reports that the victim was discovered surrounded by booze bottles. Whether the bottles contributed in any way to the fire’s fueling is not immediately apparent.

Until authorities can inform her family of the tragedy, the woman’s identity has been kept secret.

According to The Post, police are presently looking for the attacker, who is believed to be in his 20s, to ask him about the crime.

Combating crime

In an attempt to protect New Yorkers and rid the subways of criminals, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a five-point plan to combat crime in the New York City subway system in March. The plan called for a force of nearly 1,000 law enforcement agents, including 750 members of the National Guard, state police, and transit officers, to perform bag checks at some of the busiest stations.

In addition to protecting the city’s train conductors and investing in mental health care for emotionally troubled New Yorkers, the strategy aims to counteract the threats posed by severe acts of violence and change state legislation.

According to a July Staten Island Advance/SILive.com story, MTA Chair Janno Lieber and Mayor Eric Adams declared a dramatic drop in subway crime in the entire city.