#Queens man arrested for attempting to torch NYPD car

A Queens man who allegedly tried to light an NYPD cop car on fire in Midtown Manhattan last week was busted by federal authorities for the attempted arson Thursday, prosecutors said.

The suspect, 19-year-old Victor Sanchez-Santa, allegedly drove from his Queens home to West 42nd Street near 11th Avenue early last Monday morning to attempt the arson, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged.

When he got to the Midtown location, he got out of his car and ignited a cloth glove and tossed it underneath an empty cop car parked on the street, prosecutors charge.

Firefighters responded and extinguished the fire soon after it started, US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

Sanchez-Santas then got back into his car and drove off as the glove burned underneath the cruiser. NYPD investigators tracked him down using surveillance footage that captured his license plate at the scene of the crime, according to court documents.

He was hit with an arson charge Thursday and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“We have the quick response of members of the NYPD, FDNY, and ATF to thank for controlling the fire and identifying the defendant so he can face the significant charge for his alleged crime,” Berman added in a statement.

Sanchez-Santas is the latest suspect to be arrested for trying to firebomb NYPD police vehicles amid widespread anti-cop protests in the city.

Last week, prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York upgraded charges against two Brooklyn lawyers and an upstate woman who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at cop cars during protests in May.

Samantha Shader, 27, of Catskill and Brooklyn lawyers Urooj Rahman, 31, and Colinford Mattis, 32, face life in prison on the seven-count indictments, charging them with the use of explosives, arson, use of explosives to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder, and making or possessing a destructive device.