Officers splashed water on a man’s plan for an impromptu barbecue in the International District’s Hing Hay Park Wednesday night.
Police responded to Hing Hay Park in the 400 block of Maynard Avenue South around 8:30 PM after a witness called and expressed consternation over a growing conflagration.
Officers arrived and found a man standing over a pyre of smoldering newspapers, holding a charred steak and a copy of a bi-weekly newspaper.
The man told police said he’d been in the park with a friend and they’d decided to have a barbecue. He said his friend had started the fire and then left, shortly before the blaze grew approximately four feet wide and three feet high. The man went on to describe his friend as wearing a leather Seahawks cap and “break away pants.”
Officers extinguished the remaining embers at the scene and admonished the man for starting the fire, which was close to plants and a kiosk in the park, which is not equipped with any official barbecue areas. Police then trespassed him from the park and referred him for reckless burning charges.