Horrified witnesses called for help as Max Azzarello set himself on fire ahead of the Trump trial, video shows

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From Christina Narizhnaya, Joe Marino And David Propper

Horrified witnesses desperately called for help as self-described “investigative researcher” Max Azzarello set himself on fire in a park outside the Manhattan courthouse where President Donald Trump's hush money trial is taking place, shocking footage shows.

The chilling video shows a man off-camera beginning his appeal to police just before Azzarello exploded into a ball of flames just as jury selection was wrapping up in Trump's historic case.

“Police, police, there's a guy setting himself on fire,” screamed 25-year-old William Schoeffler as Azzarello doused himself with an accelerant.

“He sets himself on fire, hello.”

According to video obtained by The Post, the shocked bystander's cries for help became more urgent as the flames quickly erupted.

“Police! Police! Fire! “Holy shit, holy shit,” Schoeffler yelled as other witnesses also began screaming.

Seconds later, authorities rushed to the scene to help the 37-year-old man, who was lying on the ground with severe burns all over his body.

A passerby held a woman who was crying.

Police told witnesses to move away while they waited for emergency services to arrive.

Schoeffler told The Post that once Azzarello set himself on fire, there was little anyone could do about it.

He also said he was on his lunch break when he began a brief conversation with Azzarello about 10 minutes before the self-immolation.

“At first I thought it was just a general protest. “Once he lit himself on fire, it was literally five or six seconds after he threw the brochures and lit himself on fire, and there was nothing you could do,” Schoeffler, 25, said.

“I just started screaming for the police and trying to get someone in there. Once it lit there was nothing you could do except take off a jacket and throw it over it, the flames were huge.”

“Even the policemen brought out a fire extinguisher, but the fuel burned out by the time the policemen reached there.”

After about 50 police officers arrived at the scene, it took a few minutes for his body to be loaded into the ambulance.

As of Friday evening, he was in critical condition at Cornell University Hospital.

“He was shaking a little on the ground. It was crazy,” said Schöffler.

Schoeffler, who founded a startup, said he had previously spoken with Azzarello, who was promoting his Substack — which outlines a vast doomsday conspiracy — and railing against elected officials.

“There was something about all politicians being very corrupt, and talking to him was nothing special, it didn't make sense,” the Manhattan resident said.

“He said that Trump and Biden were both corrupt, but that they were both the same and that they were running some kind of kleptocracy, and after a while I just walked away.”

As Schoeffler spoke with another man, he heard a pile of leaflets being thrown into the sky, drawing attention to Azzarello.

“I thought he was trying to protest, and he basically immediately doused himself with some kind of fuel and then immediately set himself on fire with a lighter,” he recalled.

“He just stood there and after a minute he hit the ground. By the time police arrived, all of the fuel had burned off his body and his skin was visible. He didn't make too much noise, he was very quiet. Pretty frightening.”

The pamphlets that Azzarello threw into the air included a link to a Substack page with the headline “I set myself on fire before the Trump trial,” which contained a bizarre and rambling 2,649-word manifesto filled with conspiracy theories.

He recently arrived in New York City from the Sunshine State, although his family was unaware of his trip, cops said at a news conference.

“He had a protest sign that said all politicians are corrupt and all fascists, and then on the back of the sign it said something about Substack, his own channel where you should follow him,” Schoeffler said.

“He honestly looked like an unemployed journalist. I didn’t think he was harmful, I just thought he was writing about whatever.”