COLUMBIA — An MU Police officer was leaving the police station at the Virginia Avenue Parking Structure early Friday morning when he noticed that the hood of one of the police cars was on fire.
At 4:40 a.m., officer Buddy Anlicker was walking to his police car when he saw that the wheel and hood of another car was in flames, said Capt. Scott Richardson of the MU Police Department.
Anlicker called in the fire over the police scanner, and other officers arrived on scene and saw two MU students watching the fire, Richardson said. When the officers approached the men — Kiran Dipta Bhattacharrya and Kyle M. McClary, both 19 — the two took off running, Richardson said.
Police chased them from Virginia Avenue to the construction area near Hospital Drive and Monk Drive and the suspects hid in the construction site, police said.
MU Police called the Columbia Police Department, who got the men to come out when officers announced over a PA system that they were letting their canines loose.
MU police arrested Bhattacharrya and McClary on three counts of felony: tampering in the first degree, resisting or interfering with arrest and knowingly burning, according to the news release. They were also arrested on two counts of misdemeanor alcohol offenses.
The two men are being held at the MU police station, but will be moved to the Boone County Jail today. Their bond had not yet been set Friday afternoon.