IMPD detains man during Crown Hill Cemetery fire investigation

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detained a man during its investigation of a fire that broke out at Crown Hill Cemetery over the weekend.

According to the Indianapolis Fire Department, units were called to the intersection of 38th Street and Clarendon Road — which is located along the northwest corner of the cemetery — around 8:48 p.m. Friday. When crews arrived at the scene, they found a fire that had broken out in a grassy area on Crown Hill Cemetery grounds.

IFD units extinguished the fire and overhauled the area to prevent the blaze from reigniting. The agency’s fire investigators were subsequently dispatched to the scene, though IMPD was not initially called to the area.

IFD indicated that 911 dispatchers received a call about the fire from a bystander. In all, IFD was able to extinguish the fire and overhaul the area in about 15 minutes, as the engine dispatched the scene was marked back in service at 9:04 p.m.

In its brief on the incident, IFD identified the person IMPD detained as “the man seen in the video circulating online.” Fire investigators conducted interviews with the person IMPD detained, but the man subsequently released based on the information he provided.

The video IFD mentioned in its brief was posted by a Facebook account called Black Indy Live on Saturday morning. Black Indy Live credited “Dame Dash” for the video it published. As of 5 p.m. Monday, Black Indy Live’s post with the video had racked up more than 6,000 reactions, about 1,500 comments and around 3,000 shares on Facebook.

The video, which is about two minutes long, shows a bystander outside the fence around Crown Hill Cemetery speaking with a man inside the fence at the cemetery. During their conversation, the fire can be seen burning the background.

The man inside the fence at Crown Hill Cemetery claimed to be homeless and indicated that he had been trying to make a small fire to warm up. That fire then got out of hand.

During the video, the man inside the fence asks the bystander not to call police.

The bystander also asked the man inside the fence if he was alright several times in the video. The man inside the fence repeatedly indicated that he was doing alright, though he was struggling to extinguish the fire he had accidentally started.

At the end of the video, however, the man inside the fence is seen walking directly through the fire that was spreading throughout the cemetery.

IFD confirmed that no structural damage was reported at Crown Hill Cemetery — only grass and leaves had been burned by the blaze.