A homeless ex-con was busted for torching an NYPD patrol car after cops booted him from a subway station, police said Monday.
Anthony Phillips, 51, was taken into custody on arson charges Friday night after cops saw him panhandling in Midtown and recognized him from a wanted flier, police and law enforcement sources said.
He’s accused of lighting a rag on fire and throwing it at a marked patrol car outside of the Pelham Bay Park 6 train station on Jan. 6, law enforcement sources said.
Around 10 p.m. that night, Phillips was acting erratically inside a subway car when two cops responded and told him to leave, law enforcement sources said.
About 10 minutes later, the cops left the station to make sure Phillips was no longer in the area — and found their patrol SUV engulfed in flames.
Photos of the vehicle previously released by the NYPD show its front hood completely charred and its engine blackened.
Phillips, who was also charged with reckless endangerment in connection with the incident, has over a dozen previous arrests in the five boroughs dating back to at least 1997, law enforcement sources said.
Sources said Phillips is homeless.
They added Phillips will be prosecuted in Manhattan federal court for the incident but the feds didn’t immediately confirm if they’d be handling the case.
Additional reporting by Ben Feuerherd