Police: Man high on meth burns hospital smoke detector
Jun. 8—Joplin police say a man who was high on meth and thought people were after him was arrested Sunday night after he burned a smoke detector in a bathroom at Freeman Hospital West.
Capt. Will Davis of the Joplin Police Department said Quinton K. Brooks, 47, was arrested after a 6:37 p.m. incident in a vacant patient room on the third floor of the hospital.
Davis said Brooks apparently had walked to the hospital from a nearby motel and went up to the third floor, where he entered an empty patient room and burned a smoke detector in the bathroom of the room with a torch lighter.
Hospital security contacted police about the incident, which caused an estimated $400 to $500 in property damage.
Davis said charges were sought on him for arson, trespassing and possession of a meth pipe. The Newton County prosecutor's office filed a felony count of knowingly burning property on Brooks rather than arson.
