A Guatemalan immigrant accused of setting a woman on fire aboard a Brooklyn subway train was reportedly so intoxicated during the attack that he expressed shock when police showed him video evidence. “Oh damn, that’s me!” said 33-year-old Sebastián Zapeta-Calil after viewing footage of the December 22 incident, according to the New York Post.
The attack left Zapeta-Calil visibly shaken during a police station interview conducted shortly after the incident, a transcript unsealed in Brooklyn Supreme Court on January 7 revealed. According to the transcript, he wiped his eyes and lowered his head upon seeing the footage.
Zapeta-Calil has been charged with murder and arson. He admitted to entering the U.S. illegally and to frequent heavy drinking. “Sometimes I drink and erase the memory, and I don’t know, right?” he told officers hours after the attack.
Describing his routine of blacking out after drinking, Zapeta-Calil said, “When I wake up, I’m already in the house, already sleeping. Or there are times when I wake up, and I’m already at the train station.”
On the day of the attack, Zapeta-Calil said he had been drinking heavily after finishing work as a roofer. He recounted heading to a Queens bar for tequila and beer, later buying more alcohol and boarding the F train after a night of continuous drinking.
By the time he arrived at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station, Zapeta-Calil said he had little recollection of how he got there. “I really don’t remember how I got on this F train. When I reacted, I was already on it. When I woke up, I was already on the F train,” he said.
The victim, who was sleeping on the train, was set ablaze by Zapeta-Calil. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. “I am very sorry,” he told detectives during the interview. “I didn’t mean to. But I really don’t know. I don’t know what happened, but I’m very sorry for that woman.”
Zapeta-Calil is scheduled to appear in court again in March.
