Man Hacks Roommate, Lights Self Up

A psycho Bronx man with a machete stabbed his housemate Sunday morning, then set himself on fire only to be rescued by a heroic passerby.

Teddy John, 36, hacked his housemate in the head just before 9:00 a.m., neighbors and police said.

The nut then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, sparking a two-alarm blaze in his two-story brick single-family home on Southern Boulevard, cops said. It was unclear whether he was trying to torch himself, the building, or both.

The burning building drew the attention of Ken Banks, who was driving by on his way to band practice.

Banks, 58, a drummer with the R&B group The Rhythm Makers, bravely ran up the stairs and dragged the burning man out of the building by his belt, his only item of clothing that hadn't been incinerated.

Cops arrived and sprayed Teddy with a fire extinguisher, Banks said. He was then rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he is in critical condition, police said.

The man John stabbed, identified by his family as Hobart Barrow, 65, is in stable condition at St. Barnabas Hospital, cops said.

It took firefighters 38 minutes to bring the house fire under control.