A man set fire to a pew inside a Manhattan church Saturday and was nabbed by police as he tried to flee.
Regis De Foucauld entered the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest on the Upper East Side at about 1 p.m. and began stacking pew cushions on a pew, police said. He added shredded paper and ignited the pile, investigators said.
"Don't worry, it's a New Year's fire," he told church staff who confronted him, according to police.
De Foucauld then broke a window inside the church vestibule with what appeared to be a paper weight, police said. He ran out a back door, but was captured by police.
Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire.
De Foucauld was arrested on charges including arson and criminal mischief.
He was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. It wasn't clear if he had a lawyer.
