STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Law enforcement officials say a 35-year-old St. George man admitted to setting a woman’s car on fire in a fit of rage.
Kern Isaac of Richmond Terrace was arraigned Thursday in state Supreme Court, St. George, on charges that include third-degree arson, second-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree grand larceny and acting in a manner injurious to a child in connection with the Aug. 26 incident.
His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The incident first unfolded around 11:30 a.m. near the intersection of Tompkins and Chestnut avenues in Rosebank, police said.
According to a criminal complaint, Isaac threatened the woman, who was known to him, with a wine bottle in front of her two children, ages 8 and 6, demanding money. He allegedly threatened, in sum and substance, “take money out of the ATM for me or I will kill you.”
Isaac, who records show has ties to Brooklyn, is accused of taking the victim’s car without her permission. By his own admission, he then exited the vehicle, lit a cookie wrapper on fire and tossed it inside before heading for a nearby train station, court documents allege.
The smoke and flames engulfed the vehicle and caused the windows of a nearby home to shatter as city firefighters responded to the scene.
“Yeh I lit that s—” Isaac allegedly told police. “I was pissed off at her… I went to the train station. I saw the smoke. I realized I made a mistake. That was me… I knew I f—– up.”
He was arrested two days after the blaze and FDNY marshals initiated the investigation that resulted in criminal charges.
The conditions of bail were not immediately clear Thursday in court records, though there was no record of the defendant being held at Rikers Island.
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