A mother and father in the US have been arrested after taking their children on a joy-ride where they threw lit fireworks at a homeless Native American man.

Joshua Benavidez and Irene Enriquez, both 31, have been charged with three counts of child abuse, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.

The couple had taken their two-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son and Benavidez’s 12-year-old son on the car trip.

Ms Enriquez told Albuquerque television station KOB-4 that they were initially trying to “rattle” and “startle” the homeless man, who was asleep on a street corner on July 11.

She claims they turned themselves in to police after hearing on Wednesday that he had caught fire.

However, arrest warrants show a different side to the story.

A purple SUV is clearly seen in surveillance footage that captured the attack.

However, Benavidez had painted the vehicle white in the days after the attack and claimed he had sold it to “some Hispanic guy in the South Valley” – but there was no paperwork to validate his claim.

A tip from Benavidez’s son’s babysitter also led police to the couple – she had been told by the boy that Benavidez, Enriquez and his eight-year-old stepbrother all threw fireworks at the man.

The arrest warrant stated that the vehicle’s occupants all noticed the homeless man’s pants had begun smouldering as they drove away.

Records also show that Benavidez was on probation at the time of the attack.

He is currently being held on a US$100,000 (AU$137,155) bond.

The victim, Ruben Abeita, remains in an intensive care unit with serious burns nearly two weeks after the attack.