Wei Chu Wu Charged With Murder After Deadly Fire

The police charged a 45-year-old man with homicide, arson and attempted assault on Friday, following a fire in Manhattan on Thursday night that left one person dead and several others injured.

According to the police, the man, Wei Chu Wu, started a fire inside a five-story apartment building in SoHo after getting into a fight with the mother of his child, who lives on the second floor of the building.

After lighting the fire, according to witnesses and the police, Mr. Wu tried to stop emergency responders from entering the building as flames engulfed the structure. One police officer broke his hand trying to subdue Mr. Wu, the police said.

The fire, at 41 Spring Street, near Mulberry Street, started around 6:40 p.m. and it took nearly 200 firefighters two and a half hours to bring it under control, fire officials said.

When the flames were finally extinguished, a body was discovered on a third-floor fire escape.

The body was "burned beyond recognition," said Paul J. Browne, the chief police spokesman.

It was not clear if the victim was a resident of the building, and the police said it would take time to make an identification because of the severity of the injuries.

"We had an extraordinary amount of fire," said James Esposito, chief of operations for the Fire Department.

The flames spread to the roof, destroying the interior staircases, so firefighters had to use fire escapes and ladders. "It was an extremely intense operation," Chief Esposito said. "The fire encompassed all the walls, all the floors," he said. "We have a partial collapse inside the building right now. It's essentially destroyed."

As the building burned Thursday night, hundreds of onlookers gathered on nearby street corners, pouring out of bars and restaurants as police and fire crews raced to the scene.

Mr. Wu was seen battling with people trying to enter the building.

William Bray, 25, a chef who lives a block away, said he ran into the street when he saw flashing lights coming from the building.

"There were flames coming out of the second-floor window," he said. "Then, soon after, we began to see smoke billowing out of the third-floor windows."

He watched as police officers took a battered Mr. Wu into custody.

Mr. Wu was not wearing shoes, and had blood on his shirt and a black eye, Mr. Bray said. He said he recognized him as someone who frequented the park opposite the building with a young son.

Six firefighters had to be treated for injuries along with two civilians. It was not immediately clear how many were injured fighting with Mr. Wu and how many were injured in the fire.

One police officer, a nine-year veteran, suffered a broken hand, "an injury that had occurred while fighting with the suspect while he was attempting to stop first responders from entering the location," the police said.

Mr. Wu, after being subdued and placed in custody Thursday night, was taken to New York Downtown Hospital with bruises.

On Friday, the building was totally gutted. Residents who lived on the floors above the Pinkberry yogurt shop on the first floor were forced to find lodging elsewhere.

Shattered glass littered the ground from windows that were broken out, making charred walls and scorched pieces of tin ceiling visible from the street.

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Balwaan

Arjun Singh comes from a very poor family. He lives in a small and shabby tenement with his mom and sister. Despite of his circumstance, he is honest and helpful. This puts him into conflict with Bhai, a notorious gangster. In order to teach Arjun a lesson, Bhai orders people in this community to stop interacting with Arjun and his family, and as a result the three are alienated. His sister is raped, and his mother passes away. Then Bhai has Arjun captured and chained. But Arjun manages to escape, only to find that he has been framed for homicide and is arrested by the police.

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