March 03--Armed with descriptive tips of a middle-age man trudging along streets near I-75 and eastbound 8 Mile, Detroit Fire Department arson investigators apprehended an arson suspect shortly after fires broke out on four different neighborhood streets midday Sunday.
Lt. Dennis Richardson, a Detroit arson investigator, said fires were set in four abandoned homes on four streets, starting around 11:15 a.m. Sunday. Two of the fires, one on Hull and one on Hawthorne, spread to adjacent homes and the occupied home on Hawthorne was destroyed. Fires also were set in vacant homes on Greeley and Russell streets just south of Eight Mile, Richardson said.
No one was injured, said Richardson. Richardson said he, arson investigator Lt. Matthew Crouch and Lt. Jamal Mayers apprehended the suspect after a two-block chase. The suspect was unarmed, said Arson Chief Charles Simms.
"Citizens really came forward. They rapidly came out of their houses and told us the description" of a suspect, said Richardson, explaining that residents described a middle-age man "wearing distinctive clothing" who was seen entering the vacant houses just minutes before fire broke out.
"Catching a suspect like this doesn't happen that often," said Richardson.
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