A Kingston woman is accused of intentionally lighting a fire in a Kingston motel while her former partner lay sleeping inside the room, police say.
Emergency crews were called to the Knights Inn around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, to respond to a fire in one of the rooms of the Princess Street motel.
According to Kingston police, when investigators arrived, they learned a man had been asleep in the motel room that caught fire, and awoke to the sound of a smoke detector.
Police say a woman who had been romantically linked to the man had stayed in the room the night before, and allegedly started a fire in the bathroom before she fled the motel Tuesday morning.
“Witnesses had observed the accused running from the motel shortly before the fire had been reported,” a Kingston police news release said.
Kingston police say they found the woman later that day, around 3 p.m., at a bus stop at the Kingston Centre. A 41-year-old woman was arrested and charged with arson, assault and four counts of breaching her probation.
No one was injured in the blaze, but one person on scene was treated for a preexisting condition exacerbated by the smoke.
Following further investigation, police say the woman allegedly struck the same man in the face three times on Dec. 24.
Julielee Stitt, communications officer with the city, said the fire at the Knights Inn was investigated by Kingston firefighters in partnership with Kingston Police and an investigator from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal.
“The fire scene examination has been completed and the incident remains under active investigation,” Stitt wrote in an emailed statement. The fire was caused about $10,000-worth of damage, according to Stitt.
Stitt said no other information was available for the Knights Inn fire, but encouraged anyone with information about the incident to contact Kingston police.