A Brooklyn man was arrested Friday after being identified as the suspect who started a fire at a Staten Island gas station.
Fakrol Islam, 26, was charged with arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. The incident took place at a 7-Eleven gas station at about 1:50 a.m. on Monday, July 30, according to the New York Police Department.
Video footage released by the NYPD shows Islam putting gas in a gas can, pouring the gasoline around a pump, then torching a piece of paper and igniting a fire that spread around nearby pumps.
Islam is immediately caught in the huge flames.
Watch the video here:
The gas station’s fire-suppression system put out the flames, but Islam suffered serious internal injuries when he was engulfed with flames.
He is hospitalized at Richmond University Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Patron Gerard Lara, who was pumping gas when the incident occurred, said he heard a pop and then saw flames, NBC New York reported.
He said: “I hear a bang. It sounded like metal-on-metal. Maybe 10 seconds later, I see a flame. My immediate reaction was to duck down behind my car.”
Lara said he was on the ground, forced to claw his way to safety.
SHOCKING VIDEO: Gas station arsonist goes up in flames https://t.co/zFrZ3CzdF4 pic.twitter.com/e9lDGlR6X3
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) August 4, 2018
He collapsed and started coughing up blood, he said.
Lara says he suffered internal bleeding and hurt lungs, but it could have been much worse, NBC reported.
“I could’ve passed out,” he said. “I could’ve died.”
