Why would a man set fire to his apartment building, then wait for emergency responders to rescue him?
He wanted to move.
That’s the gist of a 14-page warrant written by Derby Police Detective Charles Stankye charging Edward Minerly with setting a fire in Derby in March.
“Numerous witnesses reported that Ed Minerly wanted to move into a first-floor apartment and felt that the City of Derby and no one else for that matter was accommodating or assisting him in getting relocated,” the warrant says.
Police on Tuesday charged Minerly, 50, with first-degree arson, first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief.
Emergency responders pulled Minerly from a burning building at 130 Main St. on March 22.
There were no major injuries, but Minerly and his wife were taken to Griffin Hospital to get checked out.
Derby Police Officer Patrick Foley was treated and released at Griffin Hospital for smoke inhalation.
Derby police Lt. Justin Stanko said Wednesday that Minerly was “a person of interest from the start” in the case.
Minerly was arrested about 7 a.m. Tuesday. He is being held on a $100,000 bond. He is due in Derby court again Aug. 23.
He has an extensive arrest record and is on the state’s sex offender registry.
Donna Candella, a Naugatuck-based lawyer representing Minerly in several other pending criminal cases, declined to comment Wednesday (Aug. 14).
“I can’t discuss a pending case,” she said.
In Stankye’s warrant, police allege that Minerly told several people there would someday be a fire in the vacant apartment.
“As the investigation progressed, information was uncovered that Ed Minerly made numerous comments on several occasions to several different people that there was going to be a fire in the front apartment of 130 Main Street,” the warrant says.
Stankye cites statements from several EMTs and paramedics from Derby’s Storm Ambulance Corps, who the warrant says Minerly is a “frequent caller and patient of.”
One of the EMTs, Storm Ambulance and Rescue Chief David Lenart, said that he responded to Minerly’s apartment several times, and that “during those incidents, Minerly stated several times that the vacant apartment next to his was open and that there as going to be a fire soon.”
He even allegedly pointed out where the blaze would start.
Another EMT, Brian Mezzapelle, told police that while he was carrying Minerly out of his apartment on another call, Minerly said: “This is dangerous. Someday you guys are going to come here because it’s going to burn.”
Storms member Michael Tracz Jr. said that while taking Minerly to the hospital once, Minerly “told Tracz that he (Tracz) should look around in the apartment because someday the apartment might catch fire and he should see what it’s like in case it does catch fire,” according to the warrant.
‘Incendiary In Nature’
Fire Marshal Phil Hawks determined the origin of the fire to be in a couch and loveseat in an empty apartment next to Minerly’s.
Further, the warrant says Hawks determined the fire to have been set intentionally, as there were no other ignition sources in the area.
“FM Hawks stated that he was making a preliminary finding that the fire was incendiary in nature, ruled that the fire had been set by human hands,” the warrant says.
Minerly and his wife were the only ones with keys to the building, the warrant says, and witnesses from nearby businesses told police they didn’t see anyone else go into the building all day.
Police also reviewed surveillance video from the liquor store on the first floor of the building, which the warrant says shows no one going in or out of the building from 6 p.m. to the time of the fire other than Minerly’s wife, who can be seen leaving the building about 14 minutes before the fire began.
Stankye and Hawks interviewed Minerly at the Derby police station April 5, where the warrant says he gave police a sworn statement saying he heard the back door to the building “close very quietly and softly” after his wife left the apartment to buy him cigarettes.
He also said he had heard “popping noises” in the vacant apartment, and that “he was always smelling something burning” — not fire or smoke, “he just smelled electrical,” the warrant says.
“It should be noted here that FM Hawks’ report found that the power to this apartment was shut off in the break panel; with each breaker in the OFF position,” Stankye wrote in the warrant. “There was no power in the apartment at the time of the fire.”
‘Numerous Inconsistencies’
The warrant says that Stankye began to point out “numerous inconsistencies” in the statement Minerly gave police, after which Minerly “put his head down and wouldn’t look at me.”
“I told Minerly that I thought he wasn’t being truthful and that I suspected he was responsible for lighting the fire for whatever reason he had,” the warrant says. “Minerly now asks me ‘Just supposing I lit the fire because I wanted to harm myself or kill myself would that make a difference? Hypothetically — if that would happen would it make a difference?”
Stankye then asked Minerly if he wanted to amend his statement, according to the warrant, after which Minerly said he’d think about it.
The next time Stankye spoke to Minerly, Minerly said he had talked to a lawyer who told him not to talk to the police anymore.
The warrant also calls into question Minerly’s claims of being paralyzed, citing statements from witnesses and an incident in May at the Derby police station after Minerly had been arrested on two violation of probation warrants.
While in the cell block at the police station, the warrant says Minerly wrapped a rubber catheter hose around his neck, after which police called an ambulance for Minerly.
EMS personnel then arrived and put Minerly on a stretcher, the warrant says, after which he “began to get loud and struggle while on the stretcher,” telling one of the EMTs he was going to kill him. The warrant says Minerly then allegedly kicked the EMT in the stomach.
“Numerous times throughout this incident, Minerly was not only moving his legs; but was utilizing them to move around the cell and struggle,” the warrant says.
The warrant also noted that when firefighters rescued Minerly from his apartment, his wheelchair was near him in the living room, though his wife gave a statement to police saying she had put it in the apartment’s bedroom minutes before.
The warrant also cites Minerly’s wife statement saying that Minerly told her he was alerted to the fire by his dog barking, but that “There is no barking heard on any of the audio recordings of the 911” call.
