A man set himself on fire outside Manhattan Criminal Court as the full jury was selected on the fourth day of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial (Picture: AP/YouTube)
A man lit himself on fire outside the New York court hearing ex-President Donald Trump ‘s historic hush money trial – moments after the full jury was finally selected.
The individual could be seen lying on the ground ablaze.
At least one person used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, according to CNN’s Laura Coates, who was at the scene outside Manhattan Criminal Court around 1.45pm.
Emergency responders placed the man on a stretcher and rushed him away.
The man lit himself on fire on Friday afternoon outside Manhattan Criminal Court (Picture: CNN)
At least one person used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire on the man (Picture: CNN)
The man walked into a park across the street from the courthouse and threw flyers in the air, a senior law enforcement source told CNN. He then took an unknown item out of his backpack and set himself ablaze.
Early into the court day on Friday morning, Trump reportedly seemed to fall asleep again – four days after first being observed nodding off in the first-ever criminal trial for a former US president.
‘Trump appears to have fallen asleep in court again. It happened several times just now,’ wrote New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on a live blog.
‘His eyes were closed for extended periods and his head dropped down twice.’
About an hour later, Haberman wrote that ‘Trump appeared to doze off in court’ while his Trump Social social media feed sounded off ‘describing himself as being victimized by the proceedings and insisting he’s entitled to immunity in a federal case charging him with illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election’.
Paramedics attend to a person who lit themselves on fire near Manhattan Criminal Court (Picture: Getty Images)
The fiery incident happened on the fourth day of ex-President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial (Picture: AP/YouTube)
Beside several apparent moments of dozing off, Trump appeared to follow along as the process continued to finish picking alternate jurors. His ‘attention piqued’ when a prospective juror who was born and raised in New York began answering a questionnaire, according to Haberman.
Trump also watched as several potential jurors broke down in tears during the intense court day.
Among them was a woman who said she served prison time in another state and said she keeps getting summoned for jury duty. Trump turned around and looked at her as her voice cracked, Haberman reported. The woman said people should be held accountable ‘because that’s what I went through’.
Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the trial, dismissed her and she said, ‘good luck’ drawing laughter in the overflow room.
Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Supreme Court on the fourth day of his trial on Friday (Picture: Reuters)
All six alternates were selected around 1.45pm, completing the jury selection process that had ended with 12 jurors seated on Thursday.
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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