Maniac who torched hanger in NYC was behind similar incident earlier: cops

Metro

By Joe Marin And Jorge Fitz Gibbon

The deranged lunatic who threw flaming liquid at an unsuspecting clothes hanger also tried to set fire to a group of commuters at a Manhattan subway station earlier this year, cops said Sunday.

Nile Taylor, 49 – who is in custody on assault charges in Saturday afternoon's fiery attack on Petrit Alijaj, 23, at Varick Street Station in Manhattan – has now been charged in connection with a similar incident on February 5 at West 28th. Metro station as well, police said.

A man now identified as Taylor can be seen on surveillance footage during the February incident holding two cans of flammable liquid and throwing them at a group of people at the train station.

No one was injured during the incident and the suspect fled and remains on the run until now.

Around 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Alijaj and his fiancée were about to get off a No. 1 train at West Houston and Varick streets on their way to the Statue of Liberty when Taylor allegedly threw a flaming liquid at him.

The burn victim told The Post on Saturday that he used his body to save his girlfriend from the flames.

“I protect my fiancée with my body,” he said.

Alijaj ended up tearing off his burning shirt as his attacker fled.

“I touched myself to put out the fire,” Alijaj recalls. “So as I was running, I was burning.

“The doctors said 30% of my body was burned. But I don't think it's 30%. Maybe more like 10%,” he said.

The victim was transported to Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital in New York to be treated for his burns.

Taylor was stopped by cops about five blocks away at Canal and Renwick streets, near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel – thanks to the cellphone he then swiped on the subway platform, allowing officers to lively spirit to find it through this one.

He was being questioned by NYPD detectives and awaiting arraignment Sunday — with cops identifying him as the alleged suspect in the earlier incident, police sources said.

He is now charged with assault, arson, reckless endangerment and weapons possession in the February case.

Taylor also was arrested for theft of service in a sealed case and criminal possession of a weapon in 1997, sources said.

Meanwhile, he's not the only alleged wandering Firebug in the transit system.

In March, police charged Israel Montero, a Bronx menace with a history of emotional disturbance, with setting fire to a trash bag on a subway car at the 125th Street station in Manhattan.

Montero, 49, even set his own shoes on fire during the May 3 fire, police said.