A St. Paul man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly setting multiple fires and attacking an officer while being detained.
Vinai Hang, 38, faces two criminal charges — second-degree arson and fourth-degree assault of an officer — after allegedly setting a car on fire in a St. Paul parking lot before resisting arrest from police. Hang is known to St. Paul police for being a suspect in multiple other arson cases, authorities said.
Charges state that a St. Paul sergeant saw an unoccupied Honda Civic on fire just before 9 p.m. in a parking lot at 7th Street and Payne Avenue. Officers discovered that the car was registered in Hang’s name.
Hang allegedly called 911 multiple times throughout the night, calling right before the sergeant found the car ablaze. Before the car fire, Hang had also set a fire around 6:30 p.m. to a portable restroom located on a trail behind 689 Rivoli Street.
A video from a nearby residence showed a man with long hair and a red jacket walking in the front yard of a home on the the street and an officer recognized the person as Hang.