op car fire-bombed during the night

June 12, 2007 03:24 PM

Police car target of vandals

The search is on for a fire starter. For police, the case takes a personal turn as a cop car goes up in flames.

The case is a real whodunit, but one small Valley town must fight crime with one less tool.

Crime scene tape and a police car: a typical situation...with a twist.

"My morning has been terrible," Triana Mayor Marvelene Freeman shakes her head. "It's got me now where my stomach is upset. To think that someone would go in there and do that is awful."

This time, the car is behind the tape. It's the center of the investigation.

A City of Triana police cruiser burned. Door handle--melted. Light bar--charred. Inside--gutted.

With sheriff's deputies on scene, Freeman says she knows exactly what happened.

Her small town is the victim of arson. It's new police car was fire bombed.

During the night, the car sits past a padlock and behind barbed wire. Freeman says someone either climbed onto and off of a nearby roof or slid under the fence. Investigators agree, but still must figure out who did it and why.

That Dodge Charger? Brand new, less than 5000 miles, one of two in a fleet now cut in half. The Triana Police Department must now rely on the old car.

It still works--sometimes. The 500 citizens of Triana hope sometimes includes right now.

"We're down to one car at this point in time," Freeman says. "But hopefully that we're covered."

Covered for the next time a police car and crime scene tape actually equal a typical situation.

The mayor says the City of Triana will offer a reward for information that leads to the arrest of whoever set that car on fire.