A man trying to light a joint ending up starting a fire that caught a suburban Boca Raton bar on fire, Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies say.
David Durkee, 21, told deputies he lost control of a fire he caused behind TW's Lounge on Aug. 13 and ran away.
A bartender said she saw flames higher than the building from a mattress on fire outside the bar, an arrest report states. She said the flames were hitting an exterior wall of the bar.
The bartender said she had nearly a dozen people leave the bar through the front.
Durkee said he lit a piece of cardboard on fire to light the joint, the report states. When the fire got out of control, he said he dropped it onto the mattress, which caught fire.
Durkee told deputies he never meant to hurt anyone in TW’s.
Durkee was arrested Tuesday and is charged with first-degree arson to an occupied building. He is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on $10,000 bond.