{"id":1031649,"date":"2026-08-29T20:37:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1031649\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T20:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T20:37:37","slug":"nypd-charges-man-who-burst-into-flames-at-google-office-building-in-lower-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1031649\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD charges man who burst into flames at Google office building in lower Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have arrested the man who burst into flames<\/a> inside a lower Manhattan building where Google has an office, officials said Saturday.<\/p>\n

John Butch, 65, was charged with criminal mischief, arson and reckless endangerment while hospitalized, recuperating from severe burns he suffered when his backpack burst into flames inside the Hudson Square building around Friday.<\/p>\n

It remained unclear Saturday if he intended to set fire to himself or if it was an accident, police said. The building holds offices for Google and the NYPD\u2019s Internal Affairs Bureau.<\/p>\n

Butch had just entered the Hudson St. building at about 3 p.m. when something in his backpack ignited, and his body became engulfed in flames. Investigators suspect lighter fluid in his backpack fueled the blaze, cops said.<\/p>\n

Butch lives in Midwood, Brooklyn, some eight miles from where the fire erupted. Police said this was his first arrest in New York City.<\/p>\n

Office staff immediately used fire extinguishers to put out the flames.<\/p>\n

Butch suffered severe burns on his head, upper body and arms, officials said. Medics rushed him to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center<\/a> in stable condition.<\/p>\n

No other injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

Police said there is no immediate indication the bizarre incident was connected to Google.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police investigate after a backpack carried by John Butch, 65, burst into flames at a lower Manhattan office building on Friday. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Police found a collapsible baton inside the bag, but have not recovered any political leaflets that would suggest an act of protest. He didn\u2019t make any statements before going up in flames, cops said.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video recovered by police shows him walking into the building\u2019s lobby wearing the bookbag, a tan sweater, gray pants and sneakers and suddenly bursting into flames, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought they were shooting a film or something,\u201d said a building worker who witnessed the incident from across the street. \u201cI saw the flames in the lobby. Then the flames were running around the lobby, and security was trying to put him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the security guards came out of the building with the burning backpack and threw it into the street,\u201d the building worker recalled. \u201cThe others inside put him out with fire extinguishers. When they brought him out, he was terribly burned, all wrapped in bandages. I don\u2019t know if you want to live that way. It was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Police investigate after a backpack carried by John Butch, 65, burst into flames at a lower Manhattan office building on Friday. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The NYPD\u00a0set up a crime scene<\/a>\u00a0that extended outside the building\u2019s front door, where a singed backpack was spotted lying just off the curb.<\/p>\n

A building worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said he reviewed surveillance footage that shows the man entering the building around 2 p.m., leaving, and then returning to the lobby about an hour later, when the fire erupted.<\/p>\n

In June, Google\u00a0renewed its lease<\/a> in the Hudson Square building, where the tech giant occupies more than 400,000 square feet of office space. The NYPD\u2019s Internal Affairs Bureau also has offices inside the Hudson St. building.<\/p>\n

Butch remained hospitalized Saturday. His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have arrested the man who burst into flames inside a lower Manhattan building where Google has an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1031650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1031649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117180723681024857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1031650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}