Police charged a 38-year-old New Haven man who was on parole with deliberately setting Thursday morning’s fire at a two-family house at 1226 Whalley Ave.
Witnesses said they saw a man pouring lighter fluid and starting the fire at the house between West Prospect and Dayton streets.
The fire displaced seven adults, three children, and three pets.
Police spoke at the scene with the witnesses, who pointed out the suspect. The man tried to flee and “failed to comply with officers’ commands to stop,” according to a release from police spokesperson Officer Scott Shumway. The suspect “led them on a pursuit, eventually getting away,” Shumway wrote. “however, a short time later, [he] was located and apprehended.”
He was held on $500,000 bond on charges including first-degree arson, first-degree reckless endangerment, risk of injury to a minor, criminal attempt to commit assault and to commit burglary. He has not yet entered a plea, according to the state judicial database.
Last September, the arrestee pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor second-degree criminal trespass charge connected to a 2019 incident in Fairfield. He was sentenced to six months, execution suspended, with two years of probation, according to the state database.
Great job by those involved!! Including the neighbors whose cooperation most definitely helped in this arrest!!