PITTSBURGH — Police said they have charged a 79-year-old woman with arson after she purposely lit a fire in a Pittsburgh high-rise Friday night.
Video surveillance on the seventh floor of the Caliguiri Plaza, in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood, showed Mary Alice Monroe light a pack of matches, toss them on the floor and place a plastic foam cup over the flames, according to police paperwork.
FREE APPS | NOW | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
- 2015 Trick-Or-Treat times in the Pittsburgh area
- Ex-Steelers QB Kordell Stewart sues man who claimed they had a relationship
- Photographer saves couple's wedding with free photo shoot
- WATCH: Chief Meteorologist Stephen Cropper's Winter Weather Forecast
Monroe then ran back to her apartment as the carpet burned, causing an estimated $2,000 in damage.
When police officers knocked on her door, she said nobody by the name of Mary Monroe lived in the apartment.
She eventually confessed and said she lit the fire in protest against another tenant who allegedly hit her daughter.
Monroe struggled with officers as they attempted to take her to jail, saying, “You can’t arrest me. I set the fire because I’m protesting what happened to my daughter,” according to police paperwork.
She is behind bars at the Allegheny County Jail and will face charges of arson, causing or risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief and resisting arrest during a preliminary hearing on Nov. 5.