Kathy Hochul is slammed for ‘tone-deaf’ comments praising New York subway’s safety just hours after woman was burned alive on train

Kathy Hochul took a beating from Republicans and Democrats for posting photos bragging about the safety of the New York City subway system hours after a woman was burned alive on a train.

The incident happened Sunday morning at a Coney Island station, where an F train carrying the victim was stationary. The woman did not die immediately, but only succumbed to her injuries after police found her burning to death.

Officers arrived on scene after a report that a woman needed help. Some were later seen using a tarp to cover one of the train’s windows – apparently to block the view of the gruesome scene.

Sebastin Zapeta, 33, a Guatemalan migrant, was taken into custody for hours after he allegedly set the woman on fire and fled the scene. according to Fox News.

At 3:40 PM on Sunday, hours after the story broke, New York Governor Hochul bizarrely posted photos of herself smiling with straphangers as she praised the safety of the subway lines.

“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains every day,” she said.

Hochul was referring to her efforts earlier this year to send National Guard members to help police randomly search passengers’ bags for weapons after a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.

She recently brought in additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.

“Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subways, crime is down and ridership is up,” she added, without mentioning the woman who was burned alive.

Councilman Joe Borelli, the Republican leader of New York’s far-left City Council, posted the tweet with the comment: “Aged as milk.”

However, Hochul was also criticized by her own party, with Congressman Ritchie Torres — who had teased a primary challenge to the governor in 2026 — blasting her for the post.

“Two hours ago, Kathy Hochul took a victory lap for ‘making the subway safer.’ She congratulates herself on the fact that on the same day in Queens, two subway passengers were stabbed (one in the face and one in the chest) and another was barbarically burned alive.”

Torres asked, “Has there ever been a more tone-deaf governor in the history of New York?”

Hochul appeared to make her own U-turn on the subway later in the day as she praised the NYPD for arresting the suspect.

“Make no mistake: one crime is one too many, even if crime in the metro is declining. We continue to dedicate staff and resources to making our subways safer.”

As Torres noted, the case was the second fatality on the New York subway on Sunday.

At 12:35 a.m., police responded to an emergency call of an assault in progress at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens and found a 37-year-old man with a stab wound to his torso and a 26-year-old man. with multiple stripes all over its body.

The older man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, while the younger man was in stable condition, police said.

An investigation continued. This combination resulted in eleven murders on the New York City subway in 2024. There were none in 2017.

Zapeta was caught while riding a train on 34th Street in Manhattan, when three high school students identified the suspected killer at the 34th Street station in Manhattan and waved at police. This is reported by the New York Post.

The train was ordered to stop at the next station, where two transit officers boarded the train and located the person of interest before taking him into custody.

Zapeta has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing, but is accused of setting the woman on fire around 7:29 a.m.

Police say the victim was asleep when Zapeta, who was sitting across from her aboard an F train at a Coney Island station, got up, walked up to her and set her on fire.

“The suspect used what we believe was a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which was completely engulfed within seconds,” Police Chief Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Sunday evening.

Zapeta was captured on camera at the station sitting on a bench and watching the woman go up in flames.

Police spoke to him briefly and told him to evacuate the area immediately afterwards.

They extinguished the fire with the help of an MTA employee before the woman died from her injuries around 7:30 a.m.

Then, around 1 p.m., police were seen carrying a body bag from the train and placing it on a stretcher before transporting it to a medical examiner’s van.

“On Sunday…at approximately 7:29 a.m., an unidentified female victim was sleeping aboard a stationary ‘F’ train at the Stillwell Avenue subway station when an unknown male subject approached and set the victim on fire,” police later said in a statement .

“The individual then left the subway. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.’

Police added that the woman was found with a litany of liquor bottles, although law enforcement sources spoke The New York Post said investigators remain baffled as to whether that played a role in the fire.

No other information was available about the female victim and the suspect’s motive – if any – still remains unclear.

Meanwhile, authorities are also trying to determine whether the suspect is in the country legally.

He had crossed into the United States and was detained by Border Patrol agents in June 2018, but appeared to have no prior criminal history in New York.

Still, the murder left service on Sunday as the F train was shut down in both directions.

As a result, platforms 5 and 6, next to that of the F train, were also cordoned off with police tape, as witnesses became confused.

An MTA employee told the Post, “It looked like all the clothing had burned off.

‘I was just passing by. The police [were] already there. I didn’t see her in flames, but that’s what I heard,” the unidentified worker said, explaining, “They turned off the lights. [in the train car] so that no one could see it.

“That s*** is crazy – it’s only three days until Christmas,” he commented. “That’s a mess.”

Alex Gureyev, a 39-year-old construction manager, also said New York City’s subway system is “going a bit downhill.”

“Everyone keeps saying it’s going back to the ’70s,” he said, referring to a time of high crime in the Big Apple.

“It happens often – not like this, setting people on fire – but like the robberies, the murders, the fights and the shootings – they happen very often today,” Gureyev said. ‘[It’s] very bad.’

New York Mayor Eric Adams also said he is praying for the victim’s family in “this senseless murder.”

He added that he is “grateful to the young New Yorkers and transit officers who stepped up to assist our NYPD in making swift arrests following this morning’s horrific and deadly subway attack.”

“This type of depraved behavior has no place in our metros and we want to work hard to ensure swift justice is delivered to all victims of violent crime,” he said.

About a year ago, Hochul supported funding to install video cameras on every train car in the New York subway system, said Michael Kemper, chief safety officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

He and other officials on Sunday credited the cameras with locating the suspect so quickly.