HEMET (CNS) – A 25-year-old man allegedly started a fire inside the
Hemet Police Station today, causing damage and culminating in a fight between
the suspect and several officers, who ultimately subdued him.
Bryan Alfaro of Fontana was arrested and booked into the Smith
Correctional Facility in Banning on Wednesday morning on suspicion of arson,
assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest. Alfaro is being held in lieu
of $50,000 bail.
According to Hemet police Lt. Dan Reinbolt, at about 3:50 a.m., the
suspect entered the police station lobby at 450 E. Latham Ave. and immediately
set about vandalizing the property.
Reinbolt said the suspect used a “sharp object to scratch letters and
shapes into the drywall,” after which he piled up loose papers in the
space and pushed them through a slot under the safety glass partition at the
counter, which was closed.
“(He) then lit those papers on fire,” the lieutenant said.
Three officers spotted the activity via a closed-circuit monitor
inside the station, and one of them ran to douse the flames, while the other
two chased Alfaro, who bolted out of the building after allegedly igniting the
fire, according to Reinbolt.
“When the officers attempted to detain Alfaro … he immediately
resisted and began physically fighting the officers,” Reinbolt said. “During
the struggle, Alfaro punched one officer in the face and attempted to remove
another officer’s handgun from its holster. Alfaro was overpowered and taken
into custody.”
The suspect suffered a laceration near his left eye, requiring medical
treatment. He was booked into the Banning jail at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The fire was quickly extinguished by the responding officer.
Reinbolt said damage to the station included punctures to the lobby
wall and thermal decomposition of the safety glass on the counter, where the
suspect allegedly started the fire.
Background information on Alfaro was unavailable.
Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.
