St. Patty’s pyro heads to psych unit
Accused St. Patrick’s Cathedral firebug Marc Lamparello is headed for treatment, not trial.
Lamparello, handcuffed three months ago outside the Midtown house of worship while toting two gas cans and a butane lighter, is headed for a mental health facility, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Neil Ross ruled Thursday.
Prosecutors did not oppose the plan to provide the college philosophy teacher with a psychiatric evaluation. His April arrest outside the church came two days after an unhinged Lamparello was dragged by police from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N.J.
“God wants me here!” he shouted at the cops. “I know all the sins the police have committed!”
The suspect told the arresting officers that he was cutting through St. Patrick’s with the gas cans because his car, parked nearby, had run out of gas. Lamparello had already booked a flight to Rome for the day after his arrest, with a hotel reservation just 20 minutes away from the Vatican.
Lamparello, 37, of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., is expected back in court next week to hear the details of his commitment. He will be examined periodically to determine if he’s rational — and if deemed ready for court, he’ll return to face charges of attempted arson and reckless endangerment.
The bizarre incident began when Lamparello entered the famed Fifth Ave. church toting the flammable liquid and the lighter, with a cathedral worker approaching him after gas splashed from one can.
Cops gave no motive for his behavior, although defense attorney Chris DiLorenzo said Lamparello has struggled with mental health for years.
He taught at Lehman College in New York City and Seton Hall University in New Jersey, lived with his parents and was also seeking his Ph.D. in philosophy.
The suspect came from church-going family, attended Boston College and served for a time as the musical director and pianist at his parish. A Bronx teen on trial for fatally stabbing his classmate took the stand in his own defense Thursday and chillingly recounted the gruesome knife attack that left a 15-year-old student dead.
Abel Cedeno, 19, spoke matter-of-factly on the witness stand about the Sept. 27, 2017, fight that claimed Matthew McCree’s life and left his best friend, Ariane LaBoy, in a coma for two days.
“I remember my arms going up, some of (the motions) might have been blocking, some might have been punching. I don’t specifically remember,” Cedeno said.
“I don’t know the specific moment the blade entered their bodies.”
McCree sustained multiple stab wounds during the vicious assault in a classroom at the now-shuttered Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx. He died from a twoand-a-half inch stab wound to the chest which pierced his heart, the court learned early in the trial.
LaBoy endured five deep