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April 25, 2008

Police: Bicycle rider started fire at South County cemetery

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- Too drunk to ride his bicycle home, Steven W. O’Dell told police he decided to spend the night next to the Elmgrove Cemetery on Tower Hill Road.

O'Dell lit a fire to keep warm over night, and at some point, O’Dell told police he passed out. When he woke up, the brush fire was out of control.

According to the police report, O’Dell ran across the woods looking for water. But he ran into a tree and cut his upper lip, which was bleeding when police arrived.

O’Dell, 45, of 24 Chestnut St., Westerly, declined medical attention, police said.

North Kingstown Police, called to the scene at 12:19 a.m., charged O'Dell with sixth degree arson, a felony.

Police said “a large portion of the southeast corner of the cemetery [was] engulfed in flames.”

The fire did not spread to the houses that surround the cemetery, the police said.

-- Journal staff writer Maria Armental

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:57 PM | Permalink

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