Opinion ID: 2216408
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Bus Fire.

Text: When teacher Doug Mulder arrived at Rapid City Christian High School just after 6:00 a.m. on October 30, he saw a man standing near a school bus. The man informed Mulder that there was a fire in the bus and that he had seen some people running away. Mulder had seen no one, nor did he notice any evidence of a fire until he approached the bus. Unable to open the bus doors, the two men gained access through an unlocked window. They opened the windows and doors and put out the fire with water and a fire extinguisher. During their brief encounter, the man asked Mulder if he thought this fire might be connected to the other recent fires. He also mentioned that he had noticed smoke as he was walking home from work at Perdue Manufacturing. Mulder thanked the man and asked for his name and address. The man replied that his first name was Donald, spelled his last name H-A-G-G, gave a nonexistent address, and walked away. Arson investigators later determined that the fire had been ignited using scrap as kindling. Scrap building materials from a nearby construction site were found piled under the bus as well. At trial Mulder identified Hage as the man he encountered that morning. At his interview, Hage admitted that around 6:00 a.m. on October 30, friends had dropped him off at a convenience store near the high school. Hage claimed he was drawn to smoke coming up from behind the church which the wind was blowing toward him as he walked home. Contradictory evidence indicated the wind was blowing in the opposite direction that morning. Furthermore, when Mulder arrived, he did not see any smoke; the bus's windows and doors were shut. Arson investigators testified that the distribution of smoke on the window panes confirmed Mulder's observations: no smoke would be visible to capture Hage's attention. Hage's credibility was further eroded by his stipulation at trial that he did not work for Perdue Manufacturing.