Horrified witnesses frantically called for help after self-proclaimed “investigative researcher” Max Azzarello self-immolated in a park outside the Manhattan courthouse where President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was being held. A shocking video has been revealed.
The chilling video shows a man off-camera pleading with police just before Azzarello throws himself into the fireball, just as jury selection in Trump’s historic case ends. I can see it starting.
“Police, police, there’s a man setting me on fire,” yelled William Scheffler, 25, as Azzarello doused himself with accelerant.
“He’s setting himself on fire, hello.”
Shocked onlookers’ calls for help became more urgent as flames began to rapidly erupt, video obtained by the newspaper showed.
“Police! Police! Fire! Oh my god, oh my god,” Scheffler yelled, as other witnesses began screaming as well.
Seconds later, authorities rushed to the scene to rescue a 37-year-old man who was lying on the ground with severe burns all over his body.
One bystander hugged a tearful woman.
Police asked witnesses to leave the area while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Scheffler told the Post that once Azzarello started the fire, there was little anyone could do.
He also said he had a brief conversation with Azzarello during his lunch break about 10 minutes before the self-immolation.
“At first I thought it was just a general protest. Once I set myself on fire, it was literally five or six seconds after I threw the pamphlet and set myself on fire, there was nothing I could do. ” said Scheffler, 25.
“I just started screaming for the police and trying to get someone in there. Once he sets himself on fire, there’s nothing you can do, just take off your jacket and put it on over it. , the flames became huge.”
“Officers also brought out a fire extinguisher, but the fuel had burned out by the time officers arrived.”
After about 50 police officers arrived at the scene, it took several more minutes to load the body into an ambulance.
He was in critical condition at Cornell University Hospital as of Friday night.
“He was shaking a little bit on the ground. It was crazy,” Scheffler said.
Mr. Scheffler, who founded the startup, said he had spoken with Mr. Azzarello beforehand. Mr. Azzarello promoted his Substack story, which depicts a vast apocalyptic conspiracy, and lashed out at elected officials.
“All the politicians are very corrupt in some way, and when I talked to him, there was nothing remarkable about it, it didn’t make any sense,” said the Manhattan resident.
“He said that Trump and Biden are corrupt, but they’re both the same, that they’re kleptocratic. And after a while, I left.”
As Scheffler was talking to another man, he heard a large number of pamphlets being thrown into the air that had drawn Azzarello’s attention.
“I thought he was protesting, and he basically immediately doused himself with some kind of fuel and immediately set himself on fire with a lighter,” he said. I remembered.
“He just stood there and a minute later he hit the ground. By the time officers arrived on the scene, all the fuel had burned off from his body and their skin was showing. He didn’t make much noise and was very It was quiet. It was pretty scary.”
The pamphlet that Azzarello tossed into the air has a link to a Substack page with the headline “I self-immolated outside Trump trial,” which contains a bizarre rambling full of conspiracy theories. It contained a 2,649-word manifesto.
He had recently arrived in New York City from the Sunshine State, but his family was unaware of his travels, police said at a news conference.
“He had a sign protesting that all politicians are corrupt and all fascists, but behind that sign he had a message on his own channel where you were supposed to be following him. It said something about Substack,” Scheffler said.
“Honestly, he looked like an unemployed journalist. I didn’t think he was harmful, I just thought he was writing about everything.”
