Niagara Falls judge releases food truck owner charged with setting woman on fire (2024)

Early Sunday morning, Niagara Falls police officers discovered a severely burned woman walking down Niagara Street near John B. Daly Boulevard.

She told them a man at a food truck had just set her on fire, and later identified the food truck owner as her attacker, according to a police report.

On Tuesday, after Niagara County prosecutors requested the man be held without bail, a Niagara Falls judge released Barinder Singh, who was charged with first-degree assault, under the supervision of the Niagara County Probation Department.

Falls police watched video showing the severely burned woman and a food truck owner threatening to kill her and telling her not to steal from him, according to court documents.

Two videos from before and after Sunday’s attack were accessible on the cellphone of the food truck owner, who is accused of pouring something flammable on a woman and lighting her head and other parts of her body on fire, according to the court documents.

City Court Judge Diane Vitello released Singh from custody following his arraignment Tuesday on a first-degree assault charge, according to court records. He did not have to post bail. Singh’s release was first reported by the Niagara Gazette.

The victim, 48, suffered third-degree burns and was in critical condition at Erie County Medical Center. Her injuries included burns to her head, arms and body. A police report said the victim was intubated in the hospital.

City officials on Tuesday announced Singh’s arrest in a news release. They said police responded to the area of Seventh and Niagara streets at 1:43 a.m. Sunday.

Singh, a Falls resident, is accused of pouring more of the flammable substance on the victim as she burned, according to court documents.

Singh was represented at the arraignment by a defense attorney from the Niagara County Public Defender’s Office.

Officers found the burned woman, who was treated at the scene by city firefighters before being transported by ambulance to ECMC.

Police have withheld the victim’s name as they attempt to reach her family.

When police first arrived at the scene, the victim told an officer that the suspect may have been the owner of Indian Fusion food truck, according to the police report. The business is located at the corner of Niagara and Eighth streets.

The officer said he knew Singh to be the owner of the food truck. The officer brought Singh to the victim’s location, where she “positively identified” him, according to the report.

She was unable to give further details about what happened “as she continuously just stated how much pain she was in,” an officer wrote.

An employee at the food truck told police he heard Singh yelling and then saw what he first thought was a garbage tote on fire.

He quickly realized it was a person’s head that was burning and called 911, according to the report.

Singh’s mother told police afterwards that she extinguished the fire on the woman’s body, according to the police report.

Singh showed police videos on his phone from before and after the attack.

“During the video prior to the fire you can see Barinder accusing (the victim) of stealing and arguing with her,” an officer wrote in the report.

In the second video, you can see the woman lying on the ground burned, and can hear Barinder say phrases along the lines of “I’ll (expletive) kill you” and “Don’t (expletive) steal from me,” the officer wrote.

Police spoke to Singh at the scene and brought him back to police headquarters to be interviewed. Police initially released him without charging him.

He was released because police were unable to interview the victim due to her condition, so detectives had to gather additional evidence in order to charge him, City Administrator Anthony Restaino said in an email.

Police brought Singh back to headquarters Monday, where he was interviewed again and charged, city officials said in the news release.

He is due in court Sept. 4.