Chilling footage has emerged of officers walking past a woman as she was burned to death on the New York City subway as her accused killer watched from a nearby bench.
Disturbing videos show a man being identified Fox News as Sebastin Zapeta, a 33-year-old migrant from Guatemala, sitting on the platform on Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn after allegedly setting the unnamed passenger on fire as she slept on the F train just before 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Zapeta, now in custody, is even seen in one clip fanning the flames as the victim leans on the subway exit, completely engulfed by the blaze, while other New Yorkers capture the unfolding horror on their phones.
Meanwhile, an NYPD officer walks by and appears to wave his hand around the scene in annoyance, but does not intervene to detain the suspect or help the victim.
NYPD Police Chief Jessica Tisch told a news conference that responding officers were unaware the suspect was on the scene at the time.
DailyMail.com has asked for comment on why police appear to have walked past the burning woman several times without helping. Police have not yet charged Zapeta or identified the victim, who did not know each other.
Shocked social media users have slammed the police response, describing the behavior of police officers caught on camera as “cowardly” and “shameful” as they call for them to be appointed or fired.
‘Policeman walks by. Doesn’t take off his coat to put out the flames. Not his problem. I don’t think he gets paid too much. Can we find out who he is? His behavior is shameful,” someone wrote on X.
Sebastin Zapeta sits on a bench in the subway and watches the woman he set on fire burn alive. In front of him stands an NYPD officer who walked past him, unaware that he was responsible for the sickening crime
‘I don’t know what’s wilder. The fact that she’s on fire and just standing there, or the guy who did it and is just watching, the guy recording or the cop who just walked by, like everything was normal,” said another.
“A lot of people freeze in these situations, and some are just afraid of getting hurt. The police, on the other hand, are there to protect and preserve lives,” someone else chimed in.
‘They stood there and did nothing. In fact, one of them was so fed up with the situation that he waved his hands as if to say, ‘I don’t care about this anymore’ and stormed off, as if a dying innocent woman would bother him.”
‘The officer has to go to prison because he doesn’t help. This is the oath they take. Coward,” said one, while another agreed, “that cop should be fired.”
Zapeta eventually boarded the F train again, and he was flagged down by high school students at York Street Station in downtown Brooklyn, who recognized him from police photos distributed Sunday.
NYPD officers alerted MTA, which stopped the train eight stops north of the sighting at Herald Square in Midtown Manhattan. Police boarded the subway and detained Zapeta as he sat in a crowded carriage, as captured in dramatic videos shared online.
Police Commissioner Tisch praised the police response to the horrific incident during a press conference on Sunday evening as “an example of great technology and even greater old-fashioned police work.”
The sick killer even got up at one point to fan the flames that burned the woman alive
Train surveillance cameras captured the man setting the homeless woman on fire and then watching as she suffered in pain
Zapeta was later caught on camera at the station sitting on a bench and watching the woman go up in flames – but he was not arrested until seven hours later.
She added that detectives do not believe Zapeta and the victim knew each other, as she provided more details about the “depraved crime.”
“The suspect walked calmly towards the victim, who was sitting at the end of a subway train,” she said. “The suspect used what we believe was a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which was completely engulfed within seconds.
“Officers patrolling an upper floor of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing in a train car, completely engulfed in flames.
“With the assistance of an MTA employee and a fire extinguisher, the flames were extinguished. Unfortunately, it was too late and the victim was pronounced (dead) on the spot.
“Unbeknownst to the responding officers, the suspect had remained at the scene and was sitting on a bench on a platform just outside the train car.
“The responding officers’ body-worn cameras provided a very clear, detailed image of the killer.”
Zapeta was wearing the same “gray hoodie, distinctive wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots” when officers tracked him down, and he also had a lighter in his pocket, the NYPD said.
Fox News described him as a Guatemalan migrant. This has not been confirmed by the police.