SPD officers were finishing up paperwork in the East Precinct’s write-up room around 11 AM Sunday morning when another officer walked in and announced there was a fire in the alley behind the precinct.
Officers walked out to the alley—just west of 12th Avenue and Pine Street—and saw a man standing next to a burning paper bag, which was only about three feet from several dumpsters filled with trash and paper.
After extinguishing the blaze, police turned their attention to a 31-year-old man standing in the alleyway, who admitted to starting the fire.
The man told police he had just “taken a [poop] and was trying to burn the [poop] away.” He also claimed to be unaware of laws prohibiting such behavior.
Officers arrested the man and booked him into the King County Jail for reckless burning. A Seattle Fire Department crew mercifully came and hosed down the alley.