Teenager charged with torching NYPD car in midtown Manhattan

NEW YORK (AP) — A 19-year-old Queens man was arrested on an arson charge Thursday by authorities who say he torched a police car near Times Square earlier this month.

Victor Sanchez-Santa was charged in Manhattan federal court, where a court proceeding was scheduled for later in the day.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a release that Sanchez-Santa “maliciously targeted law enforcement” when he set fire to a cloth glove and placed it beneath a police vehicle in a crime that was captured by video surveillance.

Sanchez-Santa was arrested Thursday morning. It was not clear who will represent him in court.

In a criminal complaint, a police detective wrote that Sanchez-Santa has acknowledged that he was driving his car in Manhattan at 1 a.m. on June 9, shortly before the police vehicle was set on fire.