HELL'S KITCHEN — A man set small fire inside the ATM vestibule of a bank on 50th Street, then approached police when they got to the scene admitting what he'd done and begged to be taken to a hospital, police said.
“I did it. I set the fire," Allen Murdaugh, 38, told police near the M&T Bank located at 830 Eighth Ave. on Nov. 9 just before 10:00 p.m. when they arrived at the scene and saw the fire inside, according to a police report. "I want to go to the hospital to be admitted.”
Instead, the homeless man, who has five ongoing criminal cases in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan for public drinking and other minor infractions, was taken to Rikers Island, where he is being held without bail, according to court records. A psychiatric test was ordered for him, records show.
Murdaugh is do back in court on Dec. 8. No information about his lawyer was immediately available.
All the damage had since been repaired since the incident, Michael Zabel, a spokesman for M&T bank said. He did not know how much it had cost.
