Alleged firebug will face trial in FDR park fire

KEVIN BEATTIE, a thin, young-looking 26-year-old, initially claimed to police that he wasn't the idiot who torched the newly installed playground equipment at FDR Park, in South Philly, in June.

After more probing by cops, he admitted to sparking the fire, but said that he didn't mean to do it.

"It was just an accident that went too far," Beattie, of Camac Street near Ritner, in South Philly, said in a statement to police that was read during his preliminary hearing Tuesday by Detective Michael Ferry, of the South Detective Division. Beattie said he was "playing with a newspaper and lit the paper on fire" with a lighter.

Lt. Malcolm Clay of the Fire Marshal's Office, who also testified, disputed Beattie's claim that the fire had been accidentally set. Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Pedicino, Clay said he had determined that the fire was set deliberately.

Municipal Judge Thomas Gehret held Beattie, who is in custody, for trial on all charges, including arson and unsworn falsification to authorities.

Beattie was in the playground on June 17 with a friend, Montell Geiger. Beattie called 9-1-1 about 9:25 that night to report the fire, and initially told investigators that he had spotted two unknown white males running away before the playground erupted in flames, police said in June.

On June 22, Beattie gave police a statement claiming that Geiger had set the fire. Later that day, he gave another statement admitting that he had started the fire and that Geiger had nothing to do with it.

A couple of days after the blaze, Mayor Nutter called it "an act of evil," at a news conference at the playground, near Pattison Avenue and Broad Street.

The Eagles pledged to help rebuild the playground, and City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, whose district includes FDR Park, said that he would provide $100,000 from his capital budget.

After Tuesday's hearing, Mark Focht, a first deputy commissioner in the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said that he expected new playground equipment and materials to arrive and be installed by the end of the year.