A Bowling Green man is facing multiple felony charges after a fire at a three-unit apartment building on Park Street, according to the Bowling Green Police.
Officers were called to a structure fire at 1119 Park Street just before 10 p.m. Thursday night. Police said the roof of the building was engulfed in flames and one person from apartment one and two people from apartment two had to be evacuated.
Witnesses told police they heard banging and glass breaking from apartment three just before they saw smoke and flames. Officers said the man who lives in that upstairs unit, 36-year-old Ronald Beard, was found across the street with what appeared to be self-inflicted cuts on his wrist.
When officers tried to help, they said Beard hit an officer’s hand, then head-butted him, and kicked him in the forehead while being loaded onto a stretcher. Beard also struck another officer with his elbow, according to police.
Investigators executed a search warrant and said the fire had two separate points of origin inside apartment three, which an arson investigator described as consistent with arson. Officers said they found a lighter and a bottle of alcohol in Beard’s pocket.
Beard was taken to the medical center for evaluation, then lodged in the Warren County Regional Jail under a $50,000 cash bond. He is charged with first-degree arson, first-degree wanton endangerment, third-degree assault of a police or probation officer, and resisting arrest.
His preliminary hearing is set for October 14 at 9 a.m. in room BD of the Warren County Justice Center.
Source: WBKO
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