GRESHAM, Ore. (KOIN) – Police say a man burned himself while in the process of setting his girlfriend’s apartment on fire using butter and cooking oil.
Timothy Andrew Taylor is charged with two counts of first-degree arson. He appeared in court on Friday.
Gresham police told KOIN 6 News they responded on Thursday to the 800 block of Southeast 187th Avenue after reports of a guy who got mad and set his girlfriend’s apartment on fire.
It turned out Taylor called police earlier in the night to have officers remove his girlfriend from the apartment. The officers couldn’t do that because she was a legal resident.
Taylor, police said, started acting “really weird” and said “if you don’t leave and they won’t make you leave, I’ll set this place on fire.” That’s when he reportedly turned on all four burners to a stovetop, removed a bottle of cooking oil and started pouring the oil on two of the lit burners. After doing that, police say Taylor then “smashed a stick of butter on a lit burner” and in the process, burned his hand.
Police say Taylor grabbed a second bottle of oil and started shaking it over all four burners.
The girlfriend told police that she could hear cracking sounds and saw a lot of smoke and flames coming from the stovetop, according to court documents.
As Taylor left, he reportedly said, nonchalantly, “How do you like that,” according to court documents.
A neighbor put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.
Taylor denied setting the fire and claimed that he smelled of oil because someone had given him a French fry package several hours earlier.
He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center.