Shocking video footage shows a teenager casually setting fire to a woman’s hair as she sits with her back to him on a San Francisco bus.
The teen — decked out all in red — strolled over to sit beside the woman who was facing forward, seemingly with no idea what was happening.
The footage, released by San Francisco police, shows the cruel teen holding up a lighter to the back of the woman’s hair for several seconds — at one point even taking it away to check that it was working properly.
The stranger’s hair was then “set on fire” and she was helped by other passengers as the firebug and two pals with him fled, police said.
It was not immediately clear how badly injured she was because the victim — described as a Filipino or Hispanic woman in her 50s or 60s — also left before police arrived at the bus attack on May 2.
As well as spurring outrage, the police appeal baffled many viewers — because the twisted firestarter’s face was blurred, making it almost impossible for witnesses to ID him.
“You want us to help you yet blur out the thug’s face!” one person complained to the force on Twitter. “The attacker would probably have been caught by now if his face had been shown before now!”
Police spokesperson Adam Lobsinger later explained to SFGate that their initial focus is on finding the victim so that they can get a witness statement to build a case.
“Without the victim, when we catch the suspects, it’s harder to do anything,” Lobsinger said.
“We are still looking for the suspects,” he said, describing the main one as a black teen wearing a red outfit and carrying a black backpack.
*story by The New York Post
