David Firestine, the 33-year-old Azusa transient accused of causing several spot fires in the Glendora foothills May 13, hid in the thick brush and steep terrain above Azusa as he evaded police.
Glendora and Azusa officers searched for a few hours to find the suspect, but his quick-footed movement proved problematic.
As GCN founder and Glendora Real Estate Agent Zak Bushey was on scene relaying reports, the suspect attempted to casually walk westbound along the 500 block of East Sierra Madre Avenue–right behind Bushey as he was visiting a home.
“He ran behind me, 30 feet away,” Bushey said. “I was at a residence near the containment area, which had just broken down. He ran by myself and five plain clothes officers.”
Firestine was caught on a resident’s security camera. The resident, who wished to remain unidentified, shared that video with GCN.
Firestine was sporadically jogging and walking through the area. Police officers eventually detained Firestine a few blocks down, Bushey said. The video that follows shows Firestine and Bushey crossing paths just before the arrest.
Azusa Police detained Firestine and Glendora Police took custody of him, according to a message on the Azusa Police Twitter feed.
Firestine was first described as wearing a dark shirt and tan shorts, but possibly switched out his shirt sometime after he ran. He was seen on Garcia Trail around 8 a.m. May 13 when fire fighters confronted him. He made obscene gestures towards them, Glendora Police said. An hour later, a man matching the description was seen on the long road that leads towards Church of the Open Door and was throwing rocks at a delivery truck near the church.
The fires were reported around 9:14 a.m. and took less than an hour to knock down. The fires burned less than an acre.
