23-year-old Petrit Alijaj said it was ‘worth it’ after he suffered 30% burns to his body after he jumped in front of a burning liquid tossed by a maniac at his fiancé on the New York City subway on Saturday.
“It was worth it. I protect my fiancée with my body,” Alijaj was quoted as saying by the New York Post. Alijaj suffered severe burns and was hospitalised and is expected to remain so for a week.
The New York Post said the Albanian was completely covered in bandages on his upper body as he was treated at the New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Hospital. He told the newspaper that he is still ‘in shock’ from the attack.
“(I’m in) not so much pain now (but) before — oh my God,” Alijaj said.
Alijaj said he and his fiancée and his cousin were visiting the Statue of Liberty and the incident happened when their train pulled into the Varick Street station in lower Manhattan. He spotted that the assailant entered the train carriage with a cup in his hand filled with some liquid.
“He had a cup (with) something inside, like oil, he made fire and he threw it all,” he told the New York Post.
The attack was random and police later caught the person who was identified as 49-year-old Nile Taylor.
He turned his body to protect his fiancée and his cousin when Taylor tossed the liquid. His shirt immediately caught on fire and he started slapping himself to douse the flames.
“I touched myself to put out the fire, while I was running I was burning,” he said, adding that moments later he managed to rip off his smouldering t-shirt.
Taylor was arrested shortly after the attack when police tracked a cell phone he had picked up while fleeing. He was apprehended about five blocks away at Canal Street and Renwick Street, near the Holland Tunnel entrance.
Saturday’s attack is the second time in four months that someone has thrown flaming liquid at a commuter, following a similar incident in February. Police are investigating whether Taylor was also responsible for the February attack.
“The doctors said 30 percent of my body was burnt. But I don’t think it is 30 percent. Maybe more like 10 percent,” Alijaj said, adding that his face was not hurt but his ear was covered with giant blisters. He also had blisters on his neck, chest, arms and left hand.
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