Midtown saw morning mayhem on Tuesday when an apparently distraught woman under the influence allegedly set fire to an apartment building and threw various objects — including an urn full of human ashes — off the roof and onto the sidewalk below, authorities and eyewitness said.
People on West 49th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues at about 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 24 were stunned to see the emotionally disturbed individual on the roof hurling debris off the top of the apartment building. Police blocked the area to vehicular and pedestrian traffic due to safety concerns.
Neighbors winced as the unhinged woman tossed a slew of objects, including an urn that left human ashes scattered on the ground, along with broken glass.
“That’s a person! That’s a human person!” a woman who lives next door yelled in lament.
The neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, told amNewYork Metro that she knows the individual, and alleged the woman is known for odd, and sometimes damaging, behavior.
“She is on drugs, like K2. She walks around naked all the time,” the witness said before pointing to a vehicle. “That’s my car, she slashed my tires.”
Another woman from Canada, who has only lived in the neighborhood for about three months, also complained of the woman’s behavior.
“I hear her screaming through the walls every day,” the woman said.
The FDNY also responded to the incident after the suspect erratically rushed about the roof naked and started a fire inside the garbage compactor, cops said. Sources familiar with the incident also stated that she was threatening to throw herself from the top of the building.
While firefighters were able to douse the blaze, the woman responsible reportedly barricaded herself inside an apartment.
Cops engaged in a brief standoff before members of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit rushed into the building and took her and another woman into custody without further incident.
The woman, who police identified as 54-year-old Sharon McNeill, left the location moments later while strapped to a gurney in handcuffs. EMS rushed her to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment and a psychological evaluation.
Pa Get, a 32-year-old woman, was also cuffed for aiding in the crime chaos.
McNeill was charged with reckless endangerment, while Get was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Police did not immediately have information regarding property damage.
