MICHAEL ENGLAND
WESTFIELD – An admittedly larcenous homeless man who said he broke into a catering truck in search of something to eat was frustrated when he found no food available so he lit the interior of the truck on fire.
Several callers reported, starting at 11 p.m. Sunday, that a food truck parked at a Union Street repair facility was on fire.
One of the callers said that he had seen three young adults walking toward Powdermil Village minutes before he called and when officers returned to the station they found that two witnesses were waiting to speak with them.
Det. Lt. David Ragazzini reports that in the resulting investigation several persons were subsequently interviewed including the suspect, Michael England, 22, of no fixed address in Westfield.
Ragazzini reports that, from the statements of the witnesses interviewed, detectives determined that England and two other persons had been walking on Union Street when they encountered the catering truck and England “booted a window” to gain entry to the vehicle in search of something to eat.
England was interviewed by Det. Anthony Tsatsos and Trooper Michael Mazza of the state fire marshal’s office and Tsatsos reports “England admitted to setting the fire in the food truck.” He wrote in a court document that England said that “he was drunk and hungry” and broke into the truck looking for food.
Tsatsos reports that when England found nothing inside he could eat he took a box of wax paper sheets he found in the truck and, after shoving it onto the passenger side of the dashboard, lit the paper with his cigarette lighter.
Officer Seth Florek was the first to arrive at the fire scene and reports he saw two-foot-high flames inside the truck on the dashboard of the vehicle and saw dense smoke venting from the truck.
Knowing that the catering truck was likely to have highly flammable contents such as cooking oils and propane gas for the stove, Florek used his baton (which was damaged in the effort) to gain entry to the truck and then knocked down the fire with the extinguisher carried in his cruiser until firefighters arrived.
The firefighters ensured that the fire on the dash was completely extinguished and found no fire elsewhere. The two propane tanks mounted on the outside of the rear of the vehicle were never in danger from the fire on the dashboard. The cost of the damage to the truck was estimated to be about $7,500.
England was arrested for attempting to burn a motor vehicle and for breaking and entering a vehicle in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony. When he appeared for arraignment Tuesday before Judge Philip A. Contant in Westfield District Court assistant district attorney Magali Montes asked him to set bail at $5,000.
She pointed out that England is on probation for cases adjudicated both at the Westfield and Holyoke courts and on nine previous occasions has submitted to facts sufficient to warrant guilty findings for previous offenses.
Contant set bail at $500 and enjoined England from making any abuse, threats or violence toward the victims or any of the Commonwealth witnesses. England did not post bail and was held pending a Sept. 3 hearing.
England was notified of a violation of probation hearing scheduled for Friday in Holyoke District Court and of an as-yet unscheduled violation of probation hearing in Westfield District Court.
