Manhattan detectives have caught the MAGA hat-wearing man behind a fiery hate crime earlier this month in which he allegedly called a woman the N-word, then set her boots ablaze, sources said Thursday morning.
According to police sources, the disturbing incident — which the suspects apparently livestreamed, police sources said — unfolded near West 26th Street and 7th Avenue in Chelsea at just before 3 p.m. on Feb. 19.
Police sources identified the main suspect as Michael James, 34, of East 94th Street on the Upper East Side; he was seen in images that the NYPD provided wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat frequently worn by President Trump’s faithful.
The sources said James and an accomplice, identified by sources as Michael Santiago, 31, also of East 94th Street, approached the 54-year-old victim near the intersection. James allegedly asked the woman for a kiss and attempted to lean into her face while Santiago recorded the scene on a cellphone mounted to a selfie stick.
Police said the woman rebuffed his advances and shoved him away, sources familiar with the incident say, leading James to allegedly unleash racist rhetoric, including using the N-word and referring to her as a “slave.”
As the woman attempted to walk away, police sources reported, James and Santiago stopped her again. James allegedly brandished a lighter and set her boots ablaze.
The victim ran from the scene. She was not reportedly injured.
The incident was reported to the 10th Precinct, and the case was later transferred to the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force for investigation as a bias attack.
Police sources said Thursday morning that James and Santiago had been apprehended hours after their images were released by the NYPD on Wednesday evening.
Both were booked on charges of assault and criminal mischief, both classified as hate crimes, along with additional charges of aggravated harassment, assault, misdemeanor, menacing, criminal mischief, arson and criminal tampering. Additional charges may be pending, sources said.
On Thursday morning, police escorted James and Santiago in handcuffs from the Midtown South Precinct. Upon seeing reporters and photographers snapping their perp walk images, one of them quipped, “That’s all for me?”
Sources said the duo has a social media handle Scrubsnyc. They have just three followers on Rumble.
