Man arrested for starting fire at Hemet Police Department, fighting officers
Authorities on Wednesday arrested a man for starting a fire inside of Hemet Police Department Station and fighting with officers.
The incident began at around 3:50 a.m., when the suspect, identified as 25-year-old Fontana resident Bryan Alfaro, entered the station and started vandalizing the station.
According to Hemet police Lieutenant Dan Reinbolt, the suspect used a "sharp object to scratch letters and shapes into the drywall." He then piled up a bunch of loose papers and pushed them under a slot in the safety glass partition at the counter.
"He then lit those papers on fire," Reinbolt said.
The incident was witnessed via closed-circuit monitor inside of the station by three officers, two of which chased Alfaro out of the station. The other remained behind to extinguish the flames.
Once the pursuing officers caught up with 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."
He was eventually overpowered and arrested, after receiving treatment for a cut near his left eye he suffered at some point during the altercation.
Alfaro was booked and held on $50,000 bail.
