A Niagara Falls, New York, man was taken into custody after reports that he set a woman on fire in retaliation for alleged theft from his food truck.
Barinder Singh (38) and an unnamed woman (48) got into a dispute inside his Indian Fusion food truck just before 2 pm on Sunday, August 4th. Police discovered the woman after answering a complaint call, who appeared to have severe burns from her head to her torso, including her arms.
She was taken to a hospital where she was said to be in critical condition with third-degree burns, according to the police. According to a police report, the victim necessitated intubation due to the damage to her neck.
The outermost three layers of skin and adipose tissue are irreparably damaged in a third-degree burn, causing the skin to turn black and feel like leather.
Eyewitnesses say the woman was set on fire after a fight. One witness said he mistook the woman for a burning garbage bag. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was a human being.
The police were able to access security video from around the time of the incident and obtained Singh’s consent to examine his cellphone. He was heard threatening to murder the woman and warning her not to steal from him.
He was arrested and charged with assault in the first degree on August 5th. Judge Diane Vitello of the Falls City Court arraigned him that afternoon and released him on personal recognizance to be supervised by state parole authorities. The court freed Singh without bail and put a protection order on the yet-unnamed victim.
Prosecutors from Niagara County were emphatically opposed to releasing Singh on bond before a preliminary hearing, but Vitello refused their request. The court told the prosecutors that Singh was released because the victim had not given a statement to the police, so the judge denied the prosecutors’ demands.
Singh was arrested on a warrant on Thursday, August 8. At his August 9th hearing before Judge John Ottaviano of the Niagara County Court, he pled ‘not guilty’ to one count of first-degree assault. Ottaviano ordered Singh to be jailed without bail.
