Police to review security outside courthouse hosting Trump’s trial after man sets himself on fire

NEW YORK — Police officials said they were investigating whether to restrict access to a public park outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial after a man set himself on fire there Friday.

“We may have to close this area,” Kaz Daughtry, deputy commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said at a news conference outside the courthouse, adding that officials would discuss the security plan soon.

Collect Pond Park was a gathering place for protesters, journalists and spectators during Trump’s trial, which began with jury selection on Monday.

The crowd there was small and largely orderly, but around 1:30 p.m. Friday, a man there pulled out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, threw them around, then doused himself with an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said.

When it happened, there were many police officers around. Several officers and bystanders came to the man’s aid. He was hospitalized in critical condition on Friday afternoon.

The man, who police said had traveled from Florida to New York in recent days, had not violated any security checkpoints to enter the park. Through Friday, the streets and sidewalks in the area around the courthouse were generally wide open, although the side street where Trump enters and exits the building is off-limits.

People entering the floor of the large courthouse where the trial is taking place must pass through a pair of metal detectors.

Authorities said they were also reviewing security protocols outside the courthouse.

“We are very concerned. Of course, we will be reviewing our security protocols,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.