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Today — 27 February 2026Main stream

MAGA social media trolls arrested for setting Black woman’s boots on fire in NYC hate crime

A pair of social media trolls  — including one who sports a “Make America Great Again” red hat  —  have been arrested for trying to light a Black woman’s boots on fire during a clash on a Manhattan street filled with racist insults, police said Thursday.

The demented duo, known online as “ScrubsNYC,” were nabbed late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images and asked the public’s help tracking them down. They were wanted for a bizarre hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19.

Michael Santiago, 31, and Michael James, 33, were hit with a slew of charges including attempted assault, criminal mischief and menacing, all as hate crimes, as well as aggravated harassment, arson and criminal tampering. The two suspects live in the same apartment building on the Upper East Side, according to cops.

Cops are hunting these two men wanted for setting a woman's boots on fire on Feb. 19 after she refused to kiss one of them in Manhattan. (NYPD)
The pair, known online as "ScrubsNYC" were arrested late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images in connection with a reported hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19. (NYPD)

The two approached the 54-year-old victim about 2:50 p.m. and were chatting her up when the provacateur in the MAGA hat began spewing a racist tirade that was caught on camera and posted online.

“I want to f— you right up your n—– a–,” the man in the MAGA hat screamed. “I want to f— a slave. You’re my slave. You’re my slave.”

The woman casually pulled out her own phone and began recording the creeps, throwing insults right back at them.

“Of course you do,” she said of their comments about bedding her. “I could never ’cause you’re a slave — you’re a slave to my Blackness.”

The suspect told the woman, “kiss me,” and she replied saying she “would never.”

“That’s your bitch, not me,” the woman said casually, motioning to the camera man recording the entire exchange.

Cops are hunting these two men wanted for setting a woman's boots on fire on Feb. 19 after she refused to kiss one of them in Manhattan. (NYPD)
NYPD
The pair, known online as "ScrubsNYC" were arrested late Wednesday, just a few hours after cops released their images in connection with a reported hate crime on W. 26th St. and Seventh Ave. in Chelsea on Feb. 19. (NYPD)

At one point, one of the provacateur’s asked to kiss the victim’s pair of boots. She agreed, but when he knelt down he set one of her boots on fire with a hand-held blowtorch.

The hair on the boots were singed but the flames quickly petered out, the video shows. Cops say the $89 pair of boots were ruined.

The woman didn’t appear to notice as she continued to trade insults with the creep.

“I just burned your boot,” the provocateur said.

“Of course you did,” the victim replied.

“I want to impregnate you, let’s f—,” the MAGA hat sporting suspect said.

“Of course you want to impregnate me and contaminate my race,” she replied. “Your mother’s a f——.”

Michael James is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Michael James is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)

The victim reported the incident to police after she realized her $89 boots were damaged. She also gave cops images of the two suspects from her recording of the bizarre exchange.

Scrubsnyc boasts about being the “biggest streamers in New York right now” in one of their online videos.

One video shows the pair lying in traffic and angering strangers with their bizarre rants.

“Yeah, right here bro! Do something!” one angered resident screams at them on the sidewalk in one clip. “Do something! Then don’t f—ing run your mouth! Get the f— out of here!”

Michael Santiago is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Michael Santiago is pictured in custody outside the Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)

Many of the videos show the MAGA hat-wearing provocateur being forced to leave an apartment building or a bodega. In one quick clip, a bodega patron throws a drink at him. In another, a woman knocks the red hat off his head.

“They tell you that the city never sleeps,” Scrubsnyc wrote in the opening of one video. “But they don’t tell you about the ones who keep it awake.”

Michael James, left, and Michael Santiago are pictured in police custody outside the NYPD Midtown South Precinct station house on Thursday Feb. 26, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
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