PORT RICHMOND — A man poured gasoline on the steps of a church community center while more than a dozen children were inside, police and the deacon said.
Willie Griggs, 32, walked into the community center owned by St. Phillip Baptist Church at 93 Park Ave. on Saturday about 10:45 a.m. while the church's drum line of children between 5 to 17 years-old practiced inside, a spokeswoman for the NYPD and Deacon John McBeth said.
People inside asked Griggs if he needed help or was looking for something when Griggs stole a kid's drum stick, walked out and poured gasoline from a container onto the steps, police said.
"He was upset by being questioned, he became obviously agitated and he walked out," said McBeth, who wasn't inside the center at the time. "He took the gas container and spilled it as he walked away from the building."
Members of the drum line went to McBeth and called the police, who eventually saw Griggs walking back to the church at about 12:30 p.m., NYPD officials and McBeth said.
When officers tried to arrest him he flailed his arms and resisted arrest before he was eventually handcuffed, police said.
Officers found Griggs — who lives nearby and has 10 prior arrests — with a lighter when they arrested him. The fuel never caught flame, police said.
Griggs was charged with arson, petit larceny, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment by police, the NYPD said.
McBeth said he believed Griggs is an emotionally disturbed person and the incident wasn't a hate crime since the center doesn't look like the church owns it.
He said the drum line members were a little shaken and confused after the incident and parents were scared.
"We're trying to allay those fears," McBeth said. "New protocols are being instituted to make sure something like this never happens again."
