Posted on 05/18/2005 12:33:31 PM PDT by kingattax
A real-life supermom used a bottle of breast milk to douse an amputee yesterday after his wheelchair was set ablaze by punks on a Staten Island bus, cops said.
The nursing mother's fast actions helped save Vietnam vet Francis Abrams, 57, from becoming a human torch, and stopped the fire from engulfing the S-54 bus, police and the victim said.
"It was put out with breast milk," said a police source, who was awed by the bizarre incident that happened just after 11 a.m.
Abrams, who lost his left leg in Vietnam, said he was minding his own business as he rode the city bus to the Staten Island Mall to buy a video of "The Exorcist."
Just after he boarded the bus, three teens playing hooky from Tottenville High School pulled a cruel prank, cops said.
"They set my chair on fire," an angry Abrams said last night, refusing to allow photographers to take pictures of his face. "They thought it was a joke."
Cops said the teens used a cigarette lighter to ignite a plastic bag hanging from the back of Abrams' motorized wheelchair.
The flames quickly engulfed the bag, containing the Greek classics "Odyssey" and "Iliad."
As the fire spread to Abrams' jacket, he screamed: "Water!"
As her baby looked on, the new mom and a friend sprang into the action, dousing the fire with a freshly pumped bottle of breast milk and another bottle of water, authorities said.
The back of Abrams' wheelchair was slightly melted by the fire, but he was not harmed thanks to the nursing mother.
"I said, 'Thank you,'" Abrams said.
When bus driver Deborah Thompson spotted the fire, she wheeled the bus to a stop at Crossfield Ave. and Arthur Kill Road in Greenridge, officials said.
But as she called 911, the three fire-starters bolted.
Cops from the 123rd Precinct got a detailed description of the suspects from Thompson and Abrams and quickly found the pranksters.
The names of the suspects were not released because of their ages. All of them are 15. They were charged with arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, authorities said.
Asked about the fire being extinguished with breast milk, Abrams bristled, "I don't care. It doesn't bother me."
Vietnam War veteran Francis Abrams sits in his wheelchair outside his home in Staten Island after torching attack on bus
You can't make this stuff up.
The names of the suspects were not released because of their ages. All of them are 15. They were charged with arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, authorities said.
***
Baloney...let their names be released...and their addresses too.
And try them as adults too.
I keep looking for the Scrappleface.com link.
No attempted murder?
Oh...it came from the bottle.
I was prepared to be very impressed.
Worth repeating:
Baloney...let their names be released...and their addresses too.
And try them as adults too.
What a bunch of sickos to set a fire like that. Their parents must be so proud. Thank goodness for the quick thinking woman.
exactly
I don't suppose charging ATTEMPTED MURDER ever crossed the prosecutor's mind.
GMTA
WHOA!!!!!!!!!! This story got it all going on!
I think I recognize the boob on the right....
Those kids need to be locked up to keep us from ever suffering any more of their ideas.
The milk of human kindness. Great name for a band.
While wholly appropriate here, if this were on the OFST, it would be yanked in a heartbeat!
Boy, if I had a nickel...
Oh!,, Momma.. giddyiyap.. - Cosmo Kramer..
I was about to pull a fire alarm myself.
I'm normally not in favor of "disappearing" people. Be a shame if something happened to these misguided yoots.
OK...........
How terrible! Just when I think I have heard it all...well, you know. Bless that man's heart.....he has suffered enough.
Pranksters!!!!??? How about attempted murderers!!!???
That was one heck of a leakage problem, huh!
Try them at the VFW.
isnt it nice to know we have brainless little monsters roaming around unchained ?
Pranksters, my @$$!!! Arson, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted murder are all felonies, not pranks.
Unbelievable! Hope the malicious truants have to get a job and pay for a new chair for this man. Salute to the Mom, her breast milk and friend.
The difference between writing fiction and non-fiction is that fiction has to make sense.
If one of those pukes were my son the police wouldn't need to charge them with anything, but they could help dispose of the ashes when I was through.
15 years old is old enough to suffer appropriate consequences for attempting severe bodily injury or attempted murder. They knew what they were doing. The parents can't get off easily for raising such animals either. How about some "hate crime" charges here too.
I can't believe they aren't charging the little rats with attempted murder!
And for the record, wheelchairs tend to be highly flamable because they are like mini-homes for the occupants. Full of tissues, newspapers, notes, etc.
Is this reporter really that f*****g stupid? "Pranksters"?? How about "homicidal animals?" I'm sure the NY courts will let them walk to do it to someone else. Liberals deserve New York.
Setting fire to an empty wheelchair is criminal mischief. Setting fire to an occupied one is attempted murder.
I agree. And charge them with attempted murder, too.
Kudos to the quick-witted young women who saved this vet's life.
A public caning of the three perps should be held in Times Square.
what kind of trash does something like this???? This is just sick!
Everything's a big joke to the media.
I was prepared to be very impressed.
My thoughts as well.
The herd has need a good culling for quite some time now.
"And try them as adults too."
For attempted murder
Besides, the man was a Vietnam vet. The New York reporter may have felt, subconsciously, just a tiny bit that "he's probably done worse himself".
They should have been charged with book burning, too. The Iliad and the Odyssey, no less. Then a liberal judge would be certain to throw the book at them.
You nailed this one. No one would ever believe a wheel-chair fire put out by mother's milk.
I mean, nursing mothers dousing flaming amputee's with fresh pumped breast milk is something might to see on a Saturday night in a San Francisco bathhouse if you anty up a couple grand, but...
In this case their livers would be exctracted bit by bit cooked with onions and fed to the other perps! I'll bet the liver and onions, (I never liked that dish although my Mom was anemic and cooked it at least once a week!), will make 'em gag!
The misfortune is that, at 15, more likely unless perhaps they have violent priors, they will be tried as juveniles, which probably means they will be set free in a few years...to do something a lot worse.
This notion that at age 15 or whatever, you are still a kid when it comes to crime is nonsense. I say, once a child picks up a gun or a knife, or sets someone afire, he is no longer a child. He knows exactly what he's doing; he knows the harm he is causing. Especially nowadays -- children are savvy...they have computers, they have television and other media -- they know what violence is.
These punks need a lot more than just a few years in juv-y, where they can be "rehabilitated." Yeah...right.
ping
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