A 14-year-old Long Island boy - who defiantly set school tests that he had failed on fire and tossed them out his suburban bedroom window - accidentally torched his home when the wind blew the blazing embers back into his room.
The ninth-grader was arrested and charged with arson for the resulting fire, which gutted his home on Arlyn Drive in Massapequa, left him and his 51- year-old mom homeless, and killed one of their cats. Police are not releasing the boy's name because of his age.
But his mom, a working single mother, told The Post her son was very distraught by the accident. She insisted he was not a criminal and should not have been charged with arson.
"Of course it was accidental," said the mother, who was staying at a nearby motel.
The high-school student was home alone Tuesday afternoon, just before 3 p.m., when he decided to ignite his low marks with a cigarette lighter, said Nassau County Detective Lt. Kevin Smith.
"He was upset at some grades he received," said Smith. "He set the papers on fire and he threw them out his second-floor window."
The boy at first tried to put the outdoors fire out, but realized there was a fire inside the home and tried to go back in - and a neighbor stopped him.
The neighbor, who is a retired New York City police officer, "basically saved his life," said Chief Kevin Malone of the Massapequa Fire Department.
Smith said the boy was charged with arson because he intentionally set the papers alight - although he did not intend to burn the house down.
