The scent of burning hair permeated the smoky air as Michael Thomas descended an escalator at the Clark/Lake Blue Line subway station where he saw a woman lying on the platform Sunday night.

“She had severe burns all over her upper torso and half of her scalp was burnt off,” Thomas, 40, told the Sun-Times. “She was lucid and conscious and talking. I believe I overheard something along the lines of, ‘I can’t believe I’m on fire.’”

The 26-year-old woman was on a train around 9:25 p.m. in the 100 block of West Lake Street when she began arguing with a man who was about 45 years old when the man poured a liquid on her and ignited it, Chicago police said.

The train came to a stop, and the 45-year-old fled the scene while the victim fell through the doors and tumbled to the ground, police sai

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