{"id":432616,"date":"2025-12-08T05:50:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/432616\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T05:50:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T05:50:28","slug":"homeless-man-set-on-fire-sleeping-on-nyc-subway-train-reunites-with-son-in-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/432616\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless man set on fire sleeping on NYC subway train reunites with son in hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

A homeless man lit on fire<\/a> while he slept on a Manhattan subway train had an emotional hospital bedside reunion with his son Sunday \u2014 as the victim struggles to walk again.<\/p>\n

James George had a fiery brush with death last Monday when authorities say a cruel teenage arsonist<\/a> used a piece of paper to light him on fire as he dozed on an uptown No. 3 train.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a senseless random act of violence,\u201d George told the Daily News in an exclusive interview. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible thing, because there\u2019s no rhyme or reason for it \u2026 I was sleeping, and the dude just set me on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

George, 55, suffered third-degree burns from his ankles to above his knees that nearly required amputation. He now faces looming surgery, weeks of recovery and a strenuous battle to ever walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people just want to see the world burn, man,\u201d he said of the accused attacker. \u201cThey\u2019re not comfortable with lack of chaos. \u2026 They want to see mayhem.\u201d<\/p>\n

George\u2019s son, Jay Armani, 30, said his dad had been missing for the past few weeks and skipped out on a plan to join his kin for Thanksgiving. George struggles with alcoholism and sometimes stays out on the streets when things get too tense with relatives he crashes with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past three weeks, I was freaking out. Like, where\u2019s he at?\u201d Armani said. \u201cI know he\u2019s out here in the city, and that\u2019s not what I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family; Court documents<\/p>\n

James George, 55, was set on fire on a No. 3 subway train in Midtown on Dec. 1. (Courtesy of family; Court documents)<\/p>\n

He had no idea his father was the victim of headline-grabbing unprovoked federal crime until a reporter with The News spoke to him Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God,\u201d Armani said before scrambling to call an Uber to rush him to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where his father was still recovering.<\/p>\n

George, despite spending nearly a week alone in the hospital, was confident his son would eventually find him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew he was coming, because that\u2019s the one who\u2019s gonna come,\u201d George told The News. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Armani, the scene was joyous and bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still processing. It\u2019s mixed emotions. When I walked in, he was like, \u2018What up?\u2019\u201d Armani said. \u201cI was so happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legs, I can smell the burn smell right now,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s really hurting me. It\u2019s heartbreaking that someone set my father on fire for no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

James George, 55, was set on fire on a No. 3 subway train in Midtown on Monday, Dec. 1. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, authorities arrested the 18-year-old arson suspect, Hiram Carrero, after matching his clothing, hat and \u201cdistinctive mustache\u201d in subway surveillance footage released by the NYPD to police bodycam footage from a traffic stop in October, prosecutors said.<\/a><\/p>\n

The teen lives in Harlem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d his mother told The News after attending his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court. \u201cMy son is a kind and decent kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suspect is being held without bail on federal arson charges for the incomprehensible 3:10 a.m. crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really am glad that he is locked up because what he did was absolutely senseless and weak,\u201d George said. \u201cYou get no gangster points for none of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feds accuse Carrero of lighting a piece of paper on fire, placing it beside the sleeping victim on the uptown No. 3 train at Penn Station, and then exiting the train before it left the stop.<\/p>\n

The flames quickly engulfed George\u2019s legs and part of the train car as it headed to Times Square, where George got off.<\/p>\n

George said instructions he learned as a child somehow came back to him when he needed them now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I was on fire woke me up,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to go back to \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 and \u2018Stop, drop and roll.\u2019 My instinct kicked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Jay Armani<\/p>\n

Subway arson victim James George, 55, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell on Sunday. (Courtesy of Jay Armani)<\/p>\n

An off-duty train conductor alerted cops after spotting smoke billowing off George when the doors opened. Police on the platform poured water on him to douse the flames.<\/p>\n

Armani \u2014 a wrestler and rapper<\/a> who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and performs hip hop under the name That Kid J The Don<\/a> \u2014 describes his father as a \u201cgenius,\u201d a college-educated former accountant recently down on his luck.<\/p>\n

George often lives with his large family network in New York City and Georgia and had recently come back from Atlanta to live with a cousin in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw him he was in a better state,\u201d Armani said of his dad\u2019s return to New York. \u201cThat sharpness and wittiness and that genius that I knew as I kid, I was seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited for Thanksgiving,\u201d he added. \u201cEven if it was just gonna be me and him, that would have been fine with me. Just chill with my father.\u201d<\/p>\n

But George stopped answering his phone right before the holiday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been trying my best to get a hold him, and the phones he had was off,\u201d Armani said. \u201cHe\u2019d leave me voicemails, but they\u2019d be from pay phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Suspected<\/p>\n

Court documents; Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Suspected arsonist Hiram Carrero is pictured aboard a northbound No. 2 train on Dec. 1, where he allegedly used a lit piece of paper to ignite the clothes of a sleeping man, and in police custody on Thursday (inset). (Court documents; Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Last year, on Dec. 22, a homeless migrant lit a homeless woman, 57-year-old Debrina Kawam, on fire as the victim slept on an F train<\/a> stopped at the end of the line at the Coney Island-Stillwell Ave. station<\/a> in Brooklyn. Kawam died of her injuries, and the suspect, Sebastian Zapeta, remains held without bail on murder and arson charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of it, in general, is wicked,\u201d Armani said. \u201cYou just know how wicked it is out there on the trains. People are scared to be out there, and people are feeding off of people\u2019s fears and causing destruction. \u2026 It needs to end because this is disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armani said his father influenced his rap career, introducing him to the music of Eminem, now one of the son\u2019s main influences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the reason why I do this stuff \u2014 because of him,\u201d Armani said. \u201cThis whole wrestling and music journey, it\u2019s because of my father that I had the confidence to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

George wasn\u2019t looking to stay on the streets \u2014 he had gotten a referral from a homeless services agency and was due to start his stay at a men\u2019s shelter in Brooklyn the day he was attacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to stay in the streets,\u201d George said. \u201cThat ain\u2019t the move. I needed a place to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Remnants<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Remnants of burnt cloth are pictured on the platform of the Times Square subway station after James George was set on fire on Dec. 1. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

But now for the foreseeable future, George will be staying in a hospital bed. He\u2019s in severe pain and his legs need to heal before he can get surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no timetable. I\u2019ve been here a week, and they\u2019re like, \u2018You know, you need to get comfortable because you\u2019re not going anywhere anytime soon,’\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no getting out of the surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son created a GoFundMe Sunday to help cover George\u2019s recovery expenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

George is remaining positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very lucky because he could have did it to my face,\u201d he said of the arsonist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A homeless man lit on fire while he slept on a Manhattan subway train had an emotional hospital…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":432617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1121,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,5249,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-432616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-county","12":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-manhattan","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-county","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newyork","21":"tag-newyorkcity","22":"tag-ny","23":"tag-nyc","24":"tag-nyc-crime","25":"tag-sub-county-region","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-united-states-of-america","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115682386750674724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432616","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=432616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}