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Township man faces arson, criminal damaging charges
By BRUCE WALTON
BOARDMAN
A township man faces multiple charges, the result of an argument he had with his roommate at their Cook Avenue apartment.
Police arrived Friday evening and found the victim standing in the apartment driveway, according to a police report.
The victim stated that he and his friend, Patrick Patterson, 23, who lives with him, were involved in a verbal dispute over slamming the apartment doors when Patterson then left the building, picked up a brick in the rear parking lot, then purportedly threw the brick against a vehicle the victim was storing for a friend, breaking the glass in multiple places.
The victim called police, causing Patterson to re-enter the apartment.
According to police, Patterson, used a lighter, aerosol can and a pan of grease and purportedly started a fire over the electric stove in the apartment.
The victim left the apartment to grab his neighbor to witness Patterson’s actions.
Once inside, the two reportedly saw Patterson pick up a large kitchen knife and held it behind himself. The victim said the two left the apartment with Patterson following with the knife still behind his back.
When Patterson heard sirens, he re-entered the apartment and remained there until police made contact with him. Firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the stove fire.
Patterson stated the argument started when the victim entered Patterson’s bedroom without permission.
Patterson told police he and the victim went outside, and the victim attempted to run him over with a vehicle, which caused him to throw the brick at the windshield.
After listening to all the statements, police arrested Patterson on three counts each of aggravated arson and criminal damaging and took him to the Mahoning County jail. Patterson has an arraignment hearing at 8:30 a.m. today in Mahoning County Area Court.