QUEENS — Police were trying to figure out if a homeless man who suffered burns under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Astoria was the victim of an arson attack, NYPD officials said.
The man had been sleeping under the BQE, near 48th Street, about 6:45 a.m. Friday when he was burned, according to the Daily News.
"He was sleeping on a mattress," said the NYPD's chief of detectives, Robert Boyce. "He had pulled another mattress over the top of him. At some point thereafter, he smelled smoke and felt some pain."
The man suffered some second and third degree burns, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, police said.
"We don't know if it's accidental," Boyce said. "We don't know if it's purposeful arson. [Detectives are] speaking to him and going around the area to see if we can get anymore witnesses."
The FDNY and NYPD could not confirm the location and time of the incident.