Cops are hunting the arsonist suspected of hospitalizing a homeless man he set on fire aboard a No. 3 train in Manhattan.
MTA surveillance cameras show the suspect wearing a grey jacket, black hat, black pants, black boots and carrying a black backpack inside a city subway station.
The 56-year-old victim was dozing aboard the northbound train when, as the doors opened at the 34th St.-Penn Station subway stop in Midtown, the suspect entered his car around 3:05 a.m. Monday, cops said.
The suspect then set the sleeping victim ablaze and immediately exited the train before it left the station, police said.
An off-duty conductor alerted police after spotting smoke billowing off the seated victim when the doors opened at the Times Square stop about five minutes later.
Police officers at the station poured water on the victim to extinguish the flames, sources said.
Medics rushed the victim to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center for treatment of severe leg burns, cops said.
The suspect fled the scene on foot before boarding a northbound No. 3 train, according to police, but an NYPD spokesman could not say how far he traveled on foot or where he boarded the train.
Anyone with information can phone in tips to the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477.
