Video shows man set on fire outside his Galveston apartment
GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Galveston man is in the hospital tonight with serious burns after being set on fire.
The attack happened just before 6 a.m. in the 500 block of 21st Street.
"He cried to me and said, 'I think I should've been dead,'" said the victim's friend and boss, Danny Hart.
Hart spoke to his friend at the hospital and says he knows he's lucky to be alive.
"He's truly happy to be alive," Hart said.
He and others who know the victim tell Eyewitness News he had been repeatedly harassed by a woman who he used to date.
They each say she returned early this morning and turned off the power twice to the apartment he lives in. When he came out the second time, they say she attacked him.
Police are not saying what sort of material was used in the attack, only that it was some type of accelerant.
The attack was caught by surveillance cameras nearby.
"I've watched the video a few times. It was truly an explosion," Hart said. "He said, 'Danny, I was on fire. I took my shirt off and just started running.'"
In the video, you could see the victim frantically trying to take off his burning shirt. Police say he suffered second and third degree burns.
He was rushed to the hospital and has identified his attacker. Police have yet to arrest her but say a felony charge of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury is pending.
If convicted, that's punishable by up to 99 years in prison.
