NYC subway crime: Man accused of setting passenger on fire held on $250,000 bail

GREENWICH VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) — Bail was set Monday for the man accused of setting a subway passenger on fire.

Nile Taylor appeared in criminal court Monday morning where he was held on $250,000 cash bail in connection with two similar incidents on the subway.

Taylor, 49, was aboard a southbound No. 1 subway train Saturday afternoon when he lit a can of alcohol on fire and threw it, officials said.

Petrit Alijaj, 23, was shot and burned all over his body.

Aljaj spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News and said he was traumatized and the only place he had ever seen something like that was in movies.

“I was on the train and a madman set fire to my body and he got off the train,” Alijaj said.

Taylor then allegedly stole a woman's iPhone that she dropped, which police used to track and arrest him.

In a similar incident on Feb. 5, he chased three men through the 28th Street station and threw a lit container at them on the southbound No. 1 platform. he fell to the ground, the victims were not affected.

Taylor has two prior felony convictions, for forgery and criminal possession of a firearm, and he was sentenced to one year in state prison.

He will return to court on May 31.

ALSO READ | Victim speaks out after being doused with flaming liquid and set on fire on subway train

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