The New York City police department is facing outrage after officers were caught on camera walking past a woman on fire in the subway.
Alarming video shared on the internet depicts a woman standing near the door on the F train at Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island. Flames suddenly appear around her head and waist, causing pieces of her clothing to drop to the ground.
A Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officer could then be seen casually walking past, and just looking back at the still-burning woman.
Moments later, another officer walked past and put his hands up, apparently incredulous about the incident.
Only one man could be seen approaching the burning woman, using a shirt to fan the flames, at which point one of the cops could just be heard telling onlookers to ‘please move over.’
It is now believed that the man in the footage was Guatemalan migrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, who is accused of lighting the passenger on fire as she slept.
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a press conference that officers who responded were not aware the suspect was on the scene at the time. Chief of Transit Joe Gulotta claimed the cops at the scene were working to get a fire extinguisher.
But their apparent inaction in the video has prompted many online to criticize the nation’s largest police force.
At least two police officers were caught on camera walking past a woman as she was burned alive on the F train at Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island
One man could be seen in the footage fanning the flames. It is now believed the man is suspect Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33
‘As a former EMT in a fire department and the son of a retired NYPD officer… my dad and I both watched this video and were outraged by the response from the officer on the scene,’ wrote Pat Calvin, a meteorologist out of Houston.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard B Kerik, meanwhile, blamed prosecutors who charged Daniel Penny with manslaughter in the May 2023 death of 30-year-old Michael Jackson impersonator Jordan Neely.
‘Where are the Daniel Pennys when you need them?’ he asked. ‘No one even attempted to help this woman. They watched like cowards.
‘Biden, Harris and [Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro] Mayorkas [are] responsible for no one attempting to help her.’
Another X user wrote that the NYPD ‘will shoot you down for the $2 train fare if you jump the turnstile, but will walk past a woman who is literally on fire.
‘Also f*** everyone who just stood by,’ she said. ‘I hate that we have no sense of responsibility towards each other.’
Others also compared the officers’ failure to take action to the manhunt that ensued after United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in midtown Manhattan and the perp walk for suspect Luigi Mangione.
‘Last week, hordes of NYPD officers surrounded Luigi Mangione for his perp walk to the courthouse for the cameras as if he was a captured mutant, and yesterday a NYPD cop literally walked by a woman on fire on the subway and did nothing,’ activist Chip Goines wrote.
The officers’ inaction led many online to criticize the nation’s largest police force
‘What is the NYPD even doing?’
‘Set a woman on fire? Casually let go by the NYPD and picked up a few hours later by a few cops,’ another added.
‘Suspect in hitting up a CEO? Nationwide manhunt followed by potential death penalty in a state that hasn’t used it in decades.’
Zapeta-Calil was caught hours after he allegedly lit the woman on fire, when a group of high school students identified him as the suspect as he rode the F train in downtown Brooklyn.
NYPD officers alerted MTA, who stopped the train eight stops north from the sighting at Herald Square in Midtown Manhattan. Cops boarded the subway and detained Zapeta-Calil as he sat in a busy train car, as caught in dramatic videos shared online.
Police Commissioner Tisch praised the police response to the heinous incident as ‘an example of great technology and even greater old fashioned police work’ during a press conference on Sunday night.
She added that detectives do not believe Zapeta-Calil and the victim knew each other, while giving more details about the ‘depraved crime’.
‘The suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car,’ she said. ‘The suspect used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.
‘Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside a train car, fully engulfed in flames.
‘With the help of an MTA employee and a fire extinguisher, the flames were put out. Unfortunately it was too late, and the victim was pronounced (dead) on the scene.
Zapeta-Calil was caught hours after he allegedly lit the woman on fire, when a group of high school students identified him as the suspect as he rode the F train in downtown Brooklyn
‘Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed on the scene and was seated on a bench on a platform just outside the train car.
‘The body-worn cameras on the responding officers produced a very clear, detailed look at the killer.’
Zapeta-Calil was wearing the same ‘gray hoodie, distinct wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots’ when officers tracked him down, and he also had a lighter in his pocket, the NYPD said.
Fox News described him as a Guatemalan migrant. This has not been confirmed by police.
Zapeta-Calil is now facing murder and arson charges in the woman’s death, which he has claimed he was drunk for and doesn’t remember.
Meanwhile, authorities continue to work to identify the victim.
Sources have told DailyMail.com the delay is likely due to the dire state of her remains.
‘She was burned, she was torched to death,’ the official said.
The woman, who is believed to have been homeless, was not thought to have been carrying an ID at the time of the attack.
Zapeta-Calil is now facing murder and arson charges in the woman’s death
The arson marked the tenth murder in the New York City subway system this year.
From 1997 to 2019, the subway system never recorded more than five murders in a single year, according to NYPD data.
The surge in violence marks a stark increase from pre-pandemic safety levels.
Yet Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul brazenly posted photos bragging about the safety of the subway system hours after the incident.
‘In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day,’ she said.
Hochul was referencing her efforts earlier this year to send National Guard members to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
The governor also deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.
‘Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up,’ she added, making no mention of the woman who was set on fire.
Kathy Hochul took a lashing from Republicans and Democrats for posting photos bragging about the safety of the New York City subway system hours after a woman was burned alive
At 3:40pm Sunday, hours after the story broke, New York Governor Hochul bizarrely posted photos of herself smiling with straphangers as she praised the safety of the subway lines
Councilman Joe Borelli, the GOP leader of the far left-leaning New York City Council, shared the post with the remark: ‘Aged like milk.’
Hochul was slammed by her own party as well, with Congressman Ritchie Torres – who has teased a primary challenge to the governor in 2026 – destroying her for the post.
‘Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for making subways “safer.” She congratulates herself on the same day two subway riders were stabbed in Queens (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive.’
Torres asked: ‘Has there ever been a more tone-deaf Governor in the history of New York?’
Hochul appeared to do her own U-turn on the subway later in the day when praising the NYPD for arresting the suspect.
‘Make no mistake: any crime is one too many, even with subway crime going down. We are continuing to surge personnel and resources to make our subways safer.’
