A homeless man, who was set ablaze while sleeping on a Manhattan subway, had a heartfelt reunion with his son at the hospital on Sunday, as he faces the daunting task of regaining his ability to walk.
James George narrowly escaped death last Monday. Authorities accuse a young arsonist of heartlessly using a piece of paper to ignite him as he slept on an uptown No. 3 train.
“It was a completely senseless act of violence,” George shared in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. “It’s terrible because there was no motive… I was just asleep, and he set me on fire.”
At 55, George sustained severe third-degree burns from his ankles up to above his knees, injuries so severe they nearly resulted in amputation. Now, he faces surgery, a lengthy recovery, and a challenging journey to walk again.
“Some people just want to watch the world burn,” he remarked about his alleged attacker. “They’re not comfortable without chaos… They crave mayhem.”
George’s son, Jay Armani, 30, revealed that his father had been missing for several weeks and missed a planned Thanksgiving gathering. Battling alcoholism, George sometimes chooses the streets over the homes of relatives when tensions rise.
“The past three weeks, I was freaking out. Like, where’s he at?” Armani said. “I know he’s out here in the city, and that’s not what I want.”
Courtesy of family; Court documents
James George, 55, was set on fire on a No. 2 subway train in Midtown on Dec. 1. (Courtesy of family; Court documents)
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.
“Oh my God,” Armani said before scrambling to call an Uber to rush him to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where his father was still recovering.
George, despite spending nearly a week alone in the hospital, was confident his son would eventually find him again.
“I knew he was coming, because that’s the one who’s gonna come,” George told The News. “It’s just a matter of time.”
For Armani, the scene was joyous and bittersweet.
“I’m still processing. It’s mixed emotions. When I walked in, he was like, ‘What up?’” Armani said. “I was so happy.
“His legs, I can smell the burn smell right now,” he added. “It’s really hurting me. It’s heartbreaking that someone set my father on fire for no reason.”
Courtesy of family
James George, 55, was set on fire on a No. 3 subway train in Midtown on Monday, Dec. 1. (Courtesy of family)
On Thursday, authorities arrested the 18-year-old arson suspect, Hiram Carrero, after matching his clothing, hat and “distinctive mustache” in subway surveillance footage released by the NYPD to police bodycam footage from a traffic stop in October, prosecutors said.
The teen lives in Harlem.
“I don’t understand,” his mother told The News after attending his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court. “My son is a kind and decent kid.”
The suspect is being held without bail on federal arson charges for the incomprehensible 3:10 a.m. crime.
“I really am glad that he is locked up because what he did was absolutely senseless and weak,” George said. “You get no gangster points for none of that.”
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.
The flames quickly engulfed George’s legs and part of the train car as it headed to Times Square, where George got off.
George said instructions he learned as a child somehow came back to him when he needed them now.
“The fact that I was on fire woke me up,” he said. “I had to go back to ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Stop, drop and roll.’ My instinct kicked in.”
Courtesy of Jay Armani
Subway arson victim James George, 55, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell on Sunday. (Courtesy of Jay Armani)
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.
Armani — a wrestler and rapper who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and performs hip hop under the name That Kid J The Don — describes his father as a “genius,” a college-educated former accountant recently down on his luck.
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.
“When I saw him he was in a better state,” Armani said of his dad’s return to New York. “That sharpness and wittiness and that genius that I knew as I kid, I was seeing that.”
“I was excited for Thanksgiving,” he added. “Even if it was just gonna be me and him, that would have been fine with me. Just chill with my father.”
But George stopped answering his phone right before the holiday.
“I’ve been trying my best to get a hold him, and the phones he had was off,” Armani said. “He’d leave me voicemails, but they’d be from pay phones.”
Court documents; Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
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)
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 stopped at the end of the line at the Coney Island-Stillwell Ave. station in Brooklyn. Kawam died of her injuries, and the suspect, Sebastian Zapeta, remains held without bail on murder and arson charges.
“All of it, in general, is wicked,” Armani said. “You 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’s fears and causing destruction. … It needs to end because this is disgusting.”
Armani said his father influenced his rap career, introducing him to the music of Eminem, now one of the son’s main influences.
“That’s the reason why I do this stuff — because of him,” Armani said. “This whole wrestling and music journey, it’s because of my father that I had the confidence to do it.”
George wasn’t looking to stay on the streets — he had gotten a referral from a homeless services agency and was due to start his stay at a men’s shelter in Brooklyn the day he was attacked.
“I don’t want to stay in the streets,” George said. “That ain’t the move. I needed a place to stay.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
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)
But now for the foreseeable future, George will be staying in a hospital bed. He’s in severe pain and his legs need to heal before he can get surgery.
“They have no timetable. I’ve been here a week, and they’re like, ‘You know, you need to get comfortable because you’re not going anywhere anytime soon,’” he said. “There’s no getting out of the surgery.”
His son created a GoFundMe Sunday to help cover George’s recovery expenses.
George is remaining positive.
“I feel very lucky because he could have did it to my face,” he said of the arsonist.
