NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City high school senior was jailed Friday on a federal arson charge after authorities say he set a fire that severely burned a sleeping subway passenger.
Hiram Carrero, 18, was not required to enter a plea during his arraignment in Manhattan federal court. The fire early Monday morning is the latest in a string of incidents of people being lit ablaze on public transit across the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni ordered Carrero detained, citing the “heinousness of the crime,” after prosecutors appealed Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger’s decision to release him to home confinement under his mother's supervision.
“It’s hard for me to understand why an 18-year-old young man who’s in high school is out at 3 o’clock in the morning setting people on fire,” Caproni said.
Carrero is accused in a criminal complaint of igniting a piece of paper and dropping it near the 56-year-old passenger around 3 a.m. Monday on a northbound 3 train at the 34th Street—Penn Station stop near Madison Square Garden and Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan.
The passenger stumbled to the platform at the next station, 42nd Street—Times Square, with his legs and torso on fire, according to surveillance images included in Carrero’s criminal complaint. Police officers quickly extinguished the flames and the passenger was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
“The victim very well could have died in this case,” prosecutor Cameron Molis said.
Carrero was arrested Thursday in Harlem, where his lawyer said he lives with his disabled mother and acts as her primary caregiver, bringing her to medical appointments. She attended his arraignment but declined to speak to reporters.
According to the complaint, Carrero stepped onto the train only briefly, lit the fire and then fled the station while the passenger lay burning. He then took a bus home.
Carrero faces at least seven years in prison if he’s convicted. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 4, though that will be canceled if prosecutors bring the case to a grand jury and secure an indictment by then.
Carrero’s lawyer, Jennifer Brown, said there was “no disagreement that the allegations are extremely serious.”
But, she said, Carrero is a “very young man with no (criminal) record and a mother willing to take him in.”
Before Caproni stepped in, Lehrburger had agreed to release Carrero to home confinement with electronic monitoring and a requirement that he undergo a mental health evaluation and submit to drug testing.
Caproni reversed the decision at an after-hours hearing on Friday.
Brown, attempting to convince her to uphold Carrero’s release, cited news reports that investigators had been looking into whether the passenger had lit himself on fire.
Carrero’s case went to federal court in part because it was investigated by a federal task force, the New York Arson and Explosives Task Force that is run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in conjunction with the city’s police and fire departments. He is not facing charges in state court.
According to the complaint, investigators zeroed in on Carrero by comparing images from the incident to body-worn camera footage recorded in October when police stopped him for riding his bicycle through a red light. Brown said he was delivering for Uber Eats at the time.
Carrero and the man investigators were searching for had the same distinctive mustache, hat with white lettering across the front, backpack and gray hooded sweatshirt in both sets of images, the complaint said.
Last month, federal prosecutors in Chicago charged a man with pouring gasoline on a woman, chased her through a train car and setting her on fire. In December 2024, a woman asleep a stopped subway train in Brooklyn was killed when a stranger set her clothing on fire.
FILE - A subway approaches an above ground station in the Brooklyn borough of New York with the New York City skyline in the background, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Michael Jordan has had a lifetime of big moments. His latest came on the witness stand in a federal courthouse.
The retired NBA great testified Friday against NASCAR in an antitrust case he is pursuing against the stock car series on behalf of his race team, 23XI, along with Front Row Motorsports. Both want to force NASCAR to change the way it does business with its teams, accusing it of monopolistic behavior.
“Someone had to step forward and challenge the entity,” the soft-spoken Jordan told the jury. “I felt I could challenge NASCAR as a whole."
It was a different role for the 62-year-old Jordan, known best for the six NBA titles he won with the Chicago Bulls and his business interests in retirement, including his still relatively new role as a NASCAR team co-owner with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. 23XI is a combination of Jordan's longtime jersey number and Hamlin's race car number.
Dressed in a dark blue suit, Jordan slowly headed to the stand for the afternoon session, adjusted the seat for his 6-foot-6 frame and settled in. Those in the packed courtroom hung on every word.
Jordan said he grew up a NASCAR fan, attending races at 11 or 12 with his family at tracks in Charlotte and Rockingham in his home state but also at Darlington in South Carolina and the Talladega superspeedway in Alabama.
“We called it a weekend vacation,” he said.
There were moments of levity on a dramatic day of testimony that also included Heather Gibbs, the daughter-in-law of team owner and NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. People were turned away from the courtroom and U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell couldn't help but notice the high attendance in front of him as well as an overflow room nearby.
“I take it Mr. Jordan is the next witness,” Bell quipped.
Outside the courthouse in downtown Charlotte, a crowd gathered for the first time this week for a chance to see Jordan. One woman screamed “Oh My God, Mike! You are an icon, you the best, you the best to do it in the NBA!” Another claimed to have played golf and cards with Jordan acquaintances while asking Jordan to pose for a photo with his daughters.
Jordan said, “Man, it's cold out here for you guys,” before complimenting the two girls on their Nike-branded hoodies.
A spectator held a sign that read "NASCAR Your Fans Deserve Better" and Hamlin turned to him and said “You're right” as they tried to make their way through the throng to a caravan of waiting SUVs.
On the witness stand, Jordan noted he was an early fan of Richard Petty, like his dad. He later gravitated to Cale Yarborough, “the original No. 11. Sorry, Denny,” Jordan testified as Hamlin watched from the gallery.
Jordan was asked to outline his career, noting his time with the Bulls and adding he remains a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. Did he play anywhere else?
“I try to forget it but I did,” said Jordan, who played for the Washington Wizards in a mostly forgettable return to the NBA after his championship runs with the Bulls and a brief time playing minor league baseball.
But Jordan spent most of his time making clear why he was in court suing the series he loves over the charters that guarantee teams revenue and access to Cup Series races. Among other things, the plaintiffs want the charters made permanent, which NASCAR has balked at.
“Look, we saw the economics wasn’t really beneficial to the teams,” Jordan testified, adding: “The thing I see in NASCAR that I think is absent is a shared responsibility of growth as well as loss.”
As the session wound down, defense attorney Lawrence Buterman noted the novelty of cross-examining an icon like Jordan, closing with the comment: “Thank you for making my 9-year-old think I’m cool today.”
“You’re not wearing any Jordans today,” Jordan replied. When he was dismissed from the stand, he said "whew” and made his way back to the seat in the front row he's occupied all week.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Michael Jordan arriving to federal courthouse to testify in NASCAR antitrust case on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo)
FILE - Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing, sits in his pit box during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill, File)
