Garden City police have charged a man found on the property where three school buses were damaged in a fire Sunday night with arson and other crimes.
Leonard Townsend, 24, was arrested at the scene of the fire that was reported at the facility off Chatham Parkway where Savannah-Chatham County school buses are held after he refused to cooperate with police, said Garden City Police Chief David Lyons.
Townsend was charged with felony counts of second degree arson, second degree criminal damage to property and a misdemeanor count of obstruction.
Garden City police and fire responded to the facility on Chatham Parkway near Telfair Place just after 9 p.m. where they found one bus burning. The fire quickly spread to buses on either side of the initial blaze, said Garden City Fire Chief James Crosby.
Firefighters were able to limit the damage on the two flanking buses to just the side closest to the original fire and a small amount of internal damage.
The bus that originally caught fire, however, was a total loss.
As firefighters worked to put the fire out, police located Townsend on the property; they had to use a stun gun on him, and he was taken to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment before he was booked into the Chatham County jail.
Chatham County court records show Townsend has a criminal history that includes a guilty plea to a 2013 criminal trespassing charge in Pooler.
Lyons said Townsend was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and did not have any shoes on when he was arrested, clothing that seemed suspicious to officers on a cool night. Additionally, Lyons said, his clothing smelled strongly of smoke and was partially burned.
The investigation into the incident is continuing and state fire investigators have been brought in, Lyons said Monday.