Man accused of burning girl to dying on subway seems in courtroom

The person accused of fatally setting a lady on fireplace inside a New York Metropolis subway practice used his shirt to fan the flames, inflicting her to turn into engulfed within the blaze, a prosecutor mentioned.

Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officers mentioned is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the US illegally, made his first courtroom look and was arraigned in Brooklyn prison courtroom.

He appeared briefly earlier than a choose and wore a white jumpsuit over a weathered black hooded sweatshirt. He didn’t communicate. He’ll stay jailed forward of his subsequent courtroom date on Friday.

The apparently random assault occurred Sunday morning on a stationary F practice on the Coney Island station in Brooklyn. Police mentioned Tuesday that identification of the sufferer was nonetheless “pending presently.”

Authorities say Zapeta approached the girl, who was sitting immobile within the practice automobile and should have been sleeping, and used a lighter to set her clothes on fireplace. Zapeta then used his shirt to fan the flames, resulting in her turning into engulfed within the fireplace, Assistant District Lawyer Ari Rottenberg mentioned on Tuesday.

Zapeta then sat at a bench on the subway platform and watched, in response to police.

Rottenberg added that underneath interrogation Zapeta mentioned he did not know what occurred, noting that he consumes alcohol. However he alleged that Zapeta recognized himself to interrogators in photographs associated to the assault.

Video posted to social media appeared to indicate the girl standing contained in the practice ablaze as some folks look on from the platform, and at the least one officer walks by. NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta mentioned Sunday that a number of officers had responded to the fireplace and one stayed to maintain the crime scene “the way in which it is imagined to be” whereas the others went to get fireplace extinguishers and transit staff.

They have been finally in a position to douse the fireplace, however “sadly, it was too late,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned — the girl was pronounced useless on the scene.

Zapeta was taken into custody Sunday afternoon whereas using a practice on the identical subway line after police received a tip from some youngsters who recognised him from photographs circulated by the police.

A Brooklyn tackle for Zapeta launched by police matches a shelter that gives housing and substance abuse assist. The shelter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Federal immigration officers mentioned Zapeta had been beforehand deported in 2018 however sooner or later reentered the US illegally.

In an announcement, Brooklyn District Lawyer Eric Gonzalez known as the assault a “ugly and mindless act of violence in opposition to a weak girl” that may be “met with probably the most severe penalties.”

The crime — and the graphic video of it that ricocheted throughout social media — deepened a rising sense of unease amongst some New Yorkers concerning the security of the subway system in a metropolis the place many residents take the subway a number of occasions every day.

Total, in response to authorities, crime is down within the transit system this yr when in comparison with final yr — main felonies declined six per cent between January and November of this yr and in 2023, information compiled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority present. However murders are up, with 9 killings this yr by November in comparison with 5 in the identical interval final yr.

Earlier this month, a Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny within the dying of an agitated subway rider that the previous Marine positioned in a chokehold final yr. The case turned a flashpoint in ongoing debates over security, homelessness and psychological sickness on the system.

Policing the subway can be troublesome, given the huge community of trains always transferring between the system’s 472 stations, with every cease containing a number of entry factors and, in lots of stations, a number of flooring and platforms.

On Sunday, police on the station the place the girl burned to dying have been patrolling a special space and responded after seeing and smelling smoke, authorities mentioned.