A New York City homeless man had reportedly succumbed to the severe burns he sustained 13 days ago while sleeping in a building stairwell.
At around 5 p.m. on November 5, the victim was sleeping in the stairwell of the Pitt Street Samuel Gompers Houses building as he often did when resident Nathaniel Terry, 27, set his pants ablaze to “scare him off.”
Gruesome surveillance footage of the incident shows the homeless man, believed to be in his 30s, getting quickly entrapped in flames as witnesses try to extinguish the blaze.
“He had clothes on, but they were like melted in his skin,” witness Christopher Watson said. “He was on fire like he was burning up. I smelled it. He wasn’t even crying or anything like that. He wasn’t even making noise. He was just on fire.”
Terry was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault, and arson. His charges will be upgraded at his next month’s court appearance.
