Police are searching for three teenagers accused of torching a homeless man as he slept outside a church in East Harlem early yesterday.
Police and witnesses said that Felix Najera, 49, was asleep on a cardboard box outside Eglesia Christiana Betania church on East 103rd Street when one of the teens lit his pants on fire while another went through his pockets and a third stood watch.
Najera woke up and jumped to his feet, sending the flames up to his shirt. He suffered severe burns on his face, chest and stomach and is listed in critical condition at Weill Cornell Medical Center.
“He didn’t deserve what he got,” said Gladys Diaz, 54, who lives across the street from the church.
Najera came to New York from Puebla, Mexico, about 12 years ago, said Diaz. He was the super of an apartment building in Brooklyn before he lost his job and wound up living on the streets, she said.
Calvin Hall, 40, works in Diaz’s apartment building and deals with Najera almost every day. Najera has a drinking problem, Hall said, and often tried to sneak into the building.
“As much as I wanted to see him leave, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” he said.