Fairfax County police have arrested a man who they say stole a car and crashed into a transformer box, igniting a house fire in Lorton, Virginia, before fleeing the scene.
No one inside the house was injured.
In a news release, Fairfax County police identified the man as 32-year-old Nico Anthony Doublet and said he was arrested after a police K9 officer tracked him into the words where he was trying to hide.
In a news conference earlier Thursday morning, Fairfax County Lt. James Curry said the series of incidents began unfolding at 4:40 a.m., when officers were called to the area of Cumbria Valley Drive and Derwent Valley Court for reports of a man entering into vehicles, reportedly stealing from cars.
Curry said once officers were in the area, they found a man inside a vehicle, approached him on foot and told him to get out of the vehicle.
The man then sped away inside a 2020 BMW X3, which was later found to be stolen, according to police.
Police say Doublet then crashed into an electrical transformer box that was in the front yard of a house, which then sparked a fire on the property and adjacent house. Police say there were two adults and three children inside the house at the time and that all were evacuated without injury.
Doublet then fled the scene but was tracked down by the K9 unit in a nearby woods, police said. He was taken to the hospital with a minor injury .
He has been charged with trespassing, auto theft and hit and run and is being held without bond.
Curry said FCPD originally took a first man into custody who they found in the area earlier Thursday morning, but police determined he was not the suspect they were looking for.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.
