Oh, how I would have loved to been there and handed these punks their asses on a plate dripping with blood.
www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/46807.htm S.I. TEENS TORCH VET
By ERIN CALABRESE and ERIKA MARTINEZ
May 18, 2005 -- Teenage truants set fire to a disabled Vietnam veteran's wheelchair yesterday on a Staten Island bus — but two quick-thinking passengers doused the flames with water and milk from a baby's "Sippy Cup," police said.
Francis Abrams, 57, was riding the S54 bus to the Staten Island Mall at about 11 a.m. when three teens used a cigarette lighter to set fire to a bag hanging from his chair, and then ran off the bus.
The fire ignited a book in the bag — Homer's "Odyssey" — and quickly spread to Abrams sweater and the back of his motorized wheelchair.
"I felt a little hot spot under my arm," said Abrams, whose left leg was amputated after injuries he suffered in Vietnam.
"I told the driver to pull the bus over, and I said, "Does anyone have any water?' "
That's when the two women, who were riding the bus with a baby, ran to his aid.
One had a bottle of water; the other had a cup of milk.
They poured both over the flames, dousing them.
Then cops were called, and quickly nabbed the suspects — whose names were withheld because they're all 15 — as they walked along Arthur Kill Road.
Abrams, who declined medical attention, identified the three youths, but said he'd like to do a whole lot more.
"I'd just like to beat the s- - - out of them," he said. "They're nothing but lowlifes."
Police said the suspects are students at Tottenville HS, where they should have been attending classes at that time of day.
They were charged with arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
"They thought it was funny," Abrams said. "Next time, it will be some poor old lady."
He said he was grateful to the two women.
"I'd like to thank them very much for the assist," he said.
"They didn't have to do anything. They could have been more worried about the baby and just gotten off the bus."