A would-be copycat poured flammable liquid into a subway token booth in Brooklyn early today, threatening to light it unless he got money, police said. The man fled empty-handed, without igniting the fluid.
The terrified token booth clerk was treated at the scene for a headache and trauma after inhaling fumes during the 12:46 a.m. ordeal on the Franklin Ave. shuttle at Park Place, officials said.
A suspect found seven blocks away at a homeless shelter at Bedford and Atlantic Aves. was taken in for question-ing, police said. It was not believed that he was a suspect in Sunday's fiery attack at another Brooklyn token booth.
Meanwhile, cops last night pressed the hunt for the men suspected of firebombing token clerk Harry Kaufman, who remained in extremely critical condition at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Doctors have been unable to even attempt surgery or skin grafts because his grip on life is so tenuous, said hospital spokeswoman Kathy Robinson.
Kaufman, 50, who inhaled flames in the explosion that destroyed his token booth, is on a respirator but his badly seared lungs are unable to absorb much oxygen. Doctors fear he may develop pneumonia.
His wife, Stella, kept vigil at the hospital.
Police were seeking three men in the torching at the Kingston-Throop Ave. station in Bedford-Stuyvesant about 1:45 a.m. Sunday. They have identified one of the attackers, and have established nicknames for the other two.
A $ 41,000 reward has been posted for help solving the case.
Courtesy of the NY Daily News
November 29, 1995, Wednesday
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