Oakland bus passenger wearing a kilt is set on fire, police say
Passengers fled out the back of an Oakland commuter bus Monday after police say a man wearing a kilt was set on fire.
The victim, described only as an 18-year-old man, was taken to the burn unit at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital with burns to his legs shortly after he was set ablaze about 5:10 p.m., KTVU-TV reported.
The man may have been dozing when the attack occurred as the bus traveled along MacArthur Boulevard near Ardley Street. Neither AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson nor police could disclose the severity of his injuries, according to the Bay Area News Group.
The driver of the Line 57 bus noticed the man on fire but did not know how it happened, Johnson told the news outlet. The driver stopped the bus to call for assistance as several people exited out the back.
Authorities did not immediately release information about a possible suspect or motive.
On Sunday, another man died after he was found engulfed in flames at a golf course in Monterey County.
Pacific Grove police and Monterey County firefighters were called Sunday morning to the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Course, where they found Richard Haffner, 56, engulfed in flames in a restroom, said Pacific Grove police Sgt. Jeff Fenton, according to the Salinas Californian.
Haffner was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Monterey County coroner’s office had not yet released the cause of death, but Pacific Grove police were investigating the death as suspicious, the Californian reported.
In West Hollywood, a man died at a Halloween festival when his costume became engulfed in flames.
A detective investigating the gruesome burning death said Monday that it appears the man may have accidentally started the fire himself while trying to light a cigarette.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Richard Biddle, a bystander recounted seeing the victim, Gilbert Estrada, accidentally ignite the hood of his Halloween costume with a cigarette lighter. When Estrada pulled the hood off his head, the flames spread to his back, eventually engulfing his whole body, the bystander said.
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