Police responding to a call about criminal mischief at a Harlem building found an emotionally disturbed man in his 30s setting fire to a ninth-floor hallway, officials say. Once cops subdued him, they found a body in an open apartment.
The initial call to the building on 120th Street came in around 4:20 a.m. Saturday. The man was said to be combative with responding officers; they eventually managed to contain him. After cops did, they went into the apartment near where the man had been setting the fire, which was open.
Inside, police found another man dead. He had been stabbed. The relationship between the dead man and the emotionally disturbed man wasn't clear. Neither has been identified.
The emotionally disturbed man was taken to a hospital to be evaluated. He suffered smoke inhalation, as did the officers who subdued him amid the hallway fire. Those cops suffered minor other injuries but are expected to be OK.