Man pleads innocent to obstruction charge

Staff report

WARREN

Hubert H. Flowers Jr., 25, of 2766 Brier St. SE, has pleaded innocent to misdemeanor obstructing official business after police questioned him about a car they found in a ditch beside a house fire that was ruled arson.

Firefighters alerted police to a four-door Kia Sephia in the ditch at 2611 Brier St., the location of a house fire that was reported at 12:13 a.m. Saturday.

About 1:24 a.m., Flowers and a female arrived at the police station saying they owned the car. Flowers said the female was the one driving when it went in the ditch on icy roads.

Later, however, when an officer questioned the story because the driver’s seat was pushed back much farther than would be expected for the woman’s size, the woman admitted she was not the driver.

She agreed to say she was the driver because she had a valid driver’s license and Flowers and another man purportedly in the car did not, she said.

Fire Chief Ken Nussle said police and fire investigators are working together on the arson, which caused $25,000 damage to the vacant house. There were no utilities on, Nussle noted.

The fire started in an attached garage and also damaged the house, Nussle said.