Pittsburgh man charged with arson, assault after fire in Penn Hills

Penn Hills police charged a Pittsburgh man Tuesday with arson and assault after an early-morning fire along Saint Croix Street.

Patrick Benthin, 45, of Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood called Penn Hills police Tuesday at 4:15 a.m. to report he’d been hit by a car, according to a criminal complaint filed against him.

When police showed up to the house, located on the 100 block of Saint Croix Street, Benthin pulled his Toyota sedan out of the driveway and then “abruptly pulled back into the driveway,” according to the complaint.

Then, a man and woman came running from the house screaming, the complaint read.

The couple told police that Benthin had just lit the house on fire while they were inside, according to the complaint. The complaint does not characterize the relationship between Benthin and the couple.

The police officer said he arrested Benthin after seeing smoke coming from the top of the house, the complaint read.

The couple told police Benthin had come from downstairs and told them “good luck” before leaving. When the smoke alarms went off, the couple hurried upstairs and found the fire before evacuating, the complaint said.

The complaint said Benthin told police he drank a six-pack of beer throughout the night and smoked marijuana before the incident.

Penn Hills Fire Marshal Chuck Miller responded to the scene, according to the complaint, and determined the fire was intentionally set in a bedroom.

Miller was not immediately available to comment.

Benthin faces two counts each of aggravated assault, aggravated arson and recklessly endangering another person, along with two DUIs, a charge of prohibited acts, possessing instruments of crime, causing risk of catastrophe, endangering property and three counts of endangering a person with arson.

Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton was not immediately available to comment.