{"id":344938,"date":"2026-09-12T12:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/344938\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T12:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:22:34","slug":"homeless-woman-tries-to-torch-250k-mercedes-as-west-side-encampment-turns-dangerous-business-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/344938\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless woman tries to torch $250K Mercedes as West Side encampment turns \u2018dangerous\u2019: business owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

A homeless woman tried to torch a luxury SUV outside a\u00a0high end lighting business in\u00a0Manhattan \u2014 one of several terrifying encounters workers say they endured after a resurgence of a West Side encampment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bentley Meeker, owner of Bentley Meeker Lighting and Staging on West 45th Street said the latest makeshift camp to plague the area outside his new office steadily grew since the company moved in July \u2014- and conditions turned alarming this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome September, it started to change into some sort of an aggressive thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Barbara Andre, 45, and her street family regroup their encampment at the corner of 52nd Street and 11th Avenue on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Meeker said a woman from the encampment tried to torch his around $250,000 Mercedes Benz G63 Thursday by wrapping a T-shirt around its mirror and attempting to light it with a lighter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Employees spotted the attempt and stopped it, he said.<\/p>\n

Meeker reported the incident and Department of Sanitation crews cleared makeshift shelters directly outside the business Thursday with help from the NYPD, according to Meeker and police.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The camp\u2019s inhabitants on Friday were already spotted setting up a few blocks away at West 52nd Street and Eleventh Avenue.<\/p>\n

Despite the quick cleaning, Meeker is still worried they will return to his block, as the encampments have been coming and going in the West Side area near the Intrepid Museum for months.<\/p>\n

Andre was recently slashed across the cheek as her street family moved from their previous location. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Meeker said as many as two dozen people were living in shelters made from tarps and boxes around his office. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cToday it seems to be quiet. That happens occasionally but historically they come back,\u201d Meeker said.<\/p>\n

Outreach workers must spend seven days offering shelter and services before an encampment can be cleared under City Hall\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n

The policy has led to a frustrating game of whack-a-mole<\/a> on the West Side, where encampments removed in July quickly reappeared nearby.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis neighborhood continues to be a critical area of focus for the Department of Homeless Services,\u201d a City Hall spokesperson said. \u201cThis administration is focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and establishing a pipeline to stable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City Department of Sanitation workers already cleared a 10-block homeless encampment along Manhattan\u2019s West Side in July, but residents have persisted. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Meeker said employees are still afraid to come to work after one was chased with a metal rod, Meeker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened is, not only have they not solved the problem, but the problem is getting dangerous now,\u201d Meeker said.<\/p>\n

He also said another employee nearly drove over a man sleeping beneath a company truck after someone tied a tarp to the vehicle to create a makeshift home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Various items are strewn inside and outside an open cargo container at a homeless encampment under the West Side Highway near West 59th Street and 12th Avenue on Thursday, August 27, 2026, in New York, N.Y. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Luckily the worker noticed the tarp before pulling away, Meeker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that he stopped and got out to look what was going on prevented him from running over the guy sleeping underneath the truck,\u201d Meeker said.<\/p>\n

The company employs about 100 full time workers, including designers, artists and theater professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my employees to have a safe place to work,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing for me to be able to provide my employees with a safe space, but the city of New York should be able to provide them with a safe street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A homeless woman tried to torch a luxury SUV outside a\u00a0high end lighting business in\u00a0Manhattan \u2014 one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[302,9467,8991,2000,57,9,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":["post-344938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-city-hall","tag-department-of-homeless-services","tag-department-of-sanitation","tag-homelessness","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}