Arson and other felony charges were filed Friday against a Canyon Lake man accused of throwing road flares at his neighbor’s house, causing two fires that the woman managed to extinguish, then leading law enforcement officers on a chase into Orange County.
David Brian Harry, 45, was arrested Wednesday after allegedly igniting the fires in the 28000 block of Yosemite Place.
Along with the two counts of arson, Harry is charged with attempted murder and felony evading, as well as sentence-enhancing allegations of maliciously using a special device and committing a crime while on bail.
He was being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside and was slated to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Curt Harris alleged that Harry hurled a wooden stake through the front window of his neighbor’s home about 3 p.m. Wednesday, and immediately afterward tossed in a lit flare.
The homeowner’s curtains and carpet caught fire, but she was able to douse the flames, confining the blaze to a small area, Harris said.
He alleged the defendant was standing outside the unidentified woman’s residence, shouting “expletives and vulgar comments,” when she confronted him, yelling for him to leave.
Harry allegedly lit another flare and threw against her picket fence, igniting another fire that burned a section of the fence before she could extinguish the flames with a garden hose, according to Harris.
The sergeant said Harry then jumped into his pickup truck and sped away from the location, and sheriff’s deputies quickly caught up to him on a road between Canyon Lake and Lake Elsinore. The defendant soon transitioned to Interstate 15, heading northbound, where California Highway Patrol officers took over the pursuit, Curtis said.
The officers partially disabled Harry’s vehicle, but he managed to continue at slow speed on the freeway. Curtis said the chase stopped in the area of Featherly Park in Yorba Linda, where the pickup gave out.
“Harry refused officers’ commands to surrender, but he was eventually placed under arrest after a brief struggle from resisting their attempts to detain him,” Curtis said.
The defendant was treated for superficial injuries and booked into jail. Neither the woman who was allegedly attacked, nor any law enforcement officers, were hurt.
According to court records, Harry was charged in April with attempted murder of a public safety official, arson, attempted arson and vandalism. It was unclear who was victimized, or what the circumstances were behind the alleged offenses. A domestic violence restraining order was filed in the case.
The defendant posted a $1 million bond and was released from custody in June, records showed.
–City News Service