Man Faces Four Charges In Theodore Fire

Alabama Mobile Authorities feared he had been trapped.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Thu, December 25, 2008 - 8:17 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, December 25, 2008 - 8:47 pm CST

A Theodore man is in Metro Jail charged with reckless endangerment after a house fire Thursday afternoon.
Police have arrested Lawrence Edward Lee and charged him with reckless endangerment, public intoxication, resisting arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Fire officials said the blaze broke out in an abandoned home at 7120-B Smith Street in Theodore.
Sheryl Matthews said she went to look for Lee, her brother-in-law, after hearing that he gave a disturbing warning.
Matthews said, "He was depressed and he said that nobody loved him and that he was going home and set the house on fire with him inside of it.".
William Clemons said he's Lee's cousin, and also ran to the burning house.
Clemons said, "I was just bent down trying (to) see if I can get to him, seeing if he was in there. (I) went around the side of the house. I'm hollering and crying, trying to get him out. Then, I come out here, and called the fire department."
But when firefighters arrived, Clemons said he had another scare.
He said, "When they came out toting him, I'm thinking, he's burned up, so I take off running because I didn't want to see nobody burned up. So, then, the guy called me back and told me he was all right, so I was all right after that."
Dale Broome was one of the firefighters trying to fight the blaze.
Broome said, "About the time we had it knocked down, an individual came out of the woods behind the house."
When asked what kind of shape he was he in, Broome said, "I can't answer that. He was in good shape as far as we're concerned. He had no burns. That's our concern."
A fire investigator was on the scene for about an hour looking into the cause of the fire.
When asked if he suspected arson, Nick Boren said, "Pretty much. One of his stories (was) he fell asleep with a cigarette, so, really, its hard to tell when there's not much left."
Clemons said he hadn't had a chance to talk with his cousin, but, he said, "If I see him, I'm going to slap him just one hard time. I just want to slap him once for scaring me like that."
Lee is being held in Metro Jail and has been put on suicide watch.

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