800. Somehow, an inmate on the eleventh floor of downtown's Manhattan Detention Complex got hold of 24 sheets. One night he tied them all together. He tied an end sheet to his bedframe and dropped the remaining sheets out the barless window. A homeless man who liked to set things on fire—and watch them burn—walked by. Seeing the hanging sheets, he looked up. The inmate was making his way down. The homeless man set fire to the sheets. Flames ascended toward the inmate, who was at the eighth floor. Smelling smoke, he looked down. He saw the flames racing upward. Frantic, he tried to climb back up and into his jail cell. He let go of the sheets, however, when his jumpsuit caught on fire. He didn't survive the fall. Neither did the homeless man, who stood smack under the inmate, transfixed as the flaming jumpsuit plummeted toward him. 4.4
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