Officers were dispatched to Pine Street to handle a reported disturbance. The individual involved was quickly identified as Takeisha White. Ryan, hold it down, buddy. What's up? Hello. What's going on? Just the lady's here. It's my friend's the baby mama. She's been here for a while. We all the one here. She didn't get why leave. I guess now he decided he's trying to leave it, but she does We were trying to get her to leave for a while now. Like, what do you mean, today or like a couple days? We've been wanting her to leave for a couple uh She's been living here? Yeah, she's been living here for a while. Okay. Supposedly, she don't have nowhere to go. Okay. What's her name? I don't know. It's this uh it's my friend Jay's baby mama. Okay, go put the dog away so I can come in. All right, hold on. Hey. Remove that dog from there. Get the dog out. How are we doing? I know. All right, come on in. Where she at? She went that way. Go get her. What's her name? Hey, grab her. Grab her. You're running. You want to come talk to me? No. I don't want to talk to you. What's going on? No, you stay. Go grab her. Go let me talk to her. Okay. Do you have Do you have somewhere to go if you don't live in here? I don't know if y'all was with you. I don't know why. Okay. Go over there. Let me talk to her. Do you have somewhere to go? No, they gave me I was supposed to I don't know what happened. And my daughter she don't live here. Okay. Goodnight. Okay. Can I stay here? Sure. How long have you been staying for? Two months. Okay. They gave me this for my disability and they didn't have me pay rent here and now they trying to kick me out. And all I've been asking them was for my money Okay. >> so I can leave. So, where are you going to go tonight? Okay. So, you I mean obviously I can't kick you out because you live here. Yeah, you've been living here for a couple months. You told me you've been living here, so I can't force you to go somewhere, but if you do have somewhere you can go for the night. What's Bob's last name? Okay. He's going to get your name and stuff. I'm going to go talk to her, okay? Auto 62, do you have the caller's information? Come talk to me, Andrew. Okay, so listen. Who's Bob? Bob! I got him. This is Bob. Hey, Bob. Hi. Okay, so here's the deal. She said that you owe her some money or something. Yeah, I get paid on the third. I get disability. >> That's fine. That I That I can't do anything about. So, here's the deal. She's been living here for 2 months. I cannot kick her out. She lives here. She's established her residency. That's how it works in Illinois. So, I can't kick her out. So, why don't you guys just work it out? I don't know. >> to have to leave because Then you'll have to go through the eviction process and get her >> No, no, no, no, no, no. Wait a minute. She's violating an order of protection. How? Because she has She an order Who's her baby daddy in there? Yeah, come here. DADDY, COME HERE. HEY, STOP YELLING. Calm down. Hold that. No, listen. Don't need to talk to everybody, okay? No, I'm just showing you. This is her baby daddy. He They're not even supposed to be near each other because of the ankle thing and his leg from her. >> Okay, and whatever Correct, but she lives here. She hasn't been paying rent. >> care. She lives here. >> She has not received mail here. >> are arguing. This is Stop, okay? She lives here. I cannot force her to leave. So, what You guys just need to be civil and work it out. If you want her out, go through the eviction process. She's lived here for 2 months, so there's nothing I can do. So, what is I don't even know what the issue is tonight. Who is she arguing with that stamper? No, she hasn't lived here for 2 months, but She told She told Amber told me that she's been living here. She's telling me she's living here, so I can't force her to leave. Well, I don't I don't know. Without a agreement it's like I don't know personally, but She's been here. She's left. She's come back. Yeah, type of thing. She's been Did you add her to the call for real? I don't know. 62 does that other female have a no protection? Okay. As far as, you know, collectively everyone and she knows personally, you know what I'm saying, and not wanting her here is like she knew that. Tougher. Okay, she doesn't have a no protection, so that's a lie. So, whatever you two got going on, just calm down, let it diffuse for the night. Correct, there's no order of protection in the system, so there's there's nothing I can enforce. Whatever is going on with your ankle monitor is nothing I have to do with me. Yeah. Okay. So, just stay civil for the night, stay separated, everybody calm down. Thanksgiving. And then deal with, you know, there's places she can go stay or stuff like that. So, there's nothing that we can do tonight. It's cold out, you don't need to be fighting and kicking somebody out in the cold. All right? And what was your name, ma'am? Uh Derek. Derek, what's your last name? Montgomery. Mont- Montgomery? Okay. All right, well, we're going to get out of here. Yep. So, where where are you What's going on? You want to leave? They want me to leave and they still haven't even paid me my money. >> Okay, listen. I talked to them, they cannot make you leave. They're well aware of that. You can stay here. I don't I don't I don't think this is making me comfortable. I don't want to be here. Okay, well, then you do You need to figure out somewhere you can go then. I don't know where I'm going to go then. I don't know. I'm not trying to deal with I'm not trying to deal with others. So, I talked to everybody, they're just going to Everyone's just going to calm down. And you guys can figure out somewhere to go. It's It's really cold tonight, so I don't recommend you wandering around. All right? >> Yeah. How long have you been here? I don't want to make nobody uncomfortable here, and this is my fault that I made it everywhere. I've been inside here for like 4 months. Okay. Are you from around here or something or No. Just just house arrest. Okay. I got I got I got my little gang going on situation going on. I'm just house arrested. Okay. And you got that ankle monitor for a domestic between you two? Yeah. Okay. So, what are the conditions of that? What the conditions now is basically, you know, next month they do whatever they're going to do. What? They probably took the order of protection off of you. Yeah, order of protection's off of you. You might still be on conditions if the case is still open and you need to see a judge. Yeah, but yeah, but next month I have to see a judge. I thought we had an open uh I didn't know that domestic thing was over. I didn't know. And that's why I've been getting back stabbed because they were like, "You're not supposed to be around him. You know you're not supposed to be here." So, I didn't know that was over. What did the Yeah, the judge has conditions like you guys probably can't >> judge The judge Okay, the order of Listen, there's something that's called bond conditions. You cannot be around each other until the case is closed. All right? So, let's just find somewhere for one of you two to go. You've obviously been living here together for a while, so >> He know I pay rent, and he was right there when I paid the rent. So, I don't know why they just Any friends and family in the area that you can go to for tonight? I have my dad, but I can't be around Okay. Do you want me to see if PATHS has an open bed? I can't go to PATHS. You can't go to PATHS? Can you go to PATHS? No, cuz what happened with uh what happened Yeah, no. Yeah, no. No, I've been Yeah, I've been I've been living here. Under his wings, a word of saying it, but they closed for the holiday. And I was going to go tomorrow thinking it was open open, but I don't know if they're going to be open tomorrow. Okay. Is there anywhere one of you two can go because we cannot leave here with you guys having bond conditions. Somebody's going to go to jail, and I don't want that to happen, okay? Yeah. So, let's just figure out a way you guys can get stay separated. Where's your dad at? South Africa. Is he in Chicago? Oh, here? Oh, we can do that. Or what about your friend? I can't be around the kids. What about your friend? Yeah, she got us locked up. Uh So you can't be around a dollar can you be around supervised? If my dad is here I can be there. Okay, then we can work with that. Right? Yeah, as long as that's the case. >> Yeah, we'll have to we'll have to talk to your dad about that just to make sure. >> Yeah, it's costly right now. Sure, but if you're allowed supervised I can't be on super mom on my birthday so he's he can watch me also but my dad he do have work so I might But all I was asking is none of them want to leave just pay me my money so I can go. Okay, yeah I mean like I said if you're a standard resident I can't make you go but this is the issue right here. Yeah, so we don't want to to violate any conditions or anything. So who was arrested? Were you arrested for the domestic battery? Yeah. Okay, so then it's yeah, definitely you should be the one actually leaving, you know. Why? Why? I can't shut up. Okay, perfect. So give your dad a call. Let's talk to him real quick on the phone and make sure you can be around the kid. Make sure that's okay with DCFAS. Officers attempted to find Taquisha a place to stay for the night. They contacted her father but she was not allowed to go there due to ongoing DCFAS restrictions. With that option ruled out officers continued working with her to identify any friends or alternate locations where she could stay. Police also started looking at other options too. Okay, so here's the deal. They've both been living here together for 2 months now. Yeah, they do have an open bond conditions. It's ankle monitor blah blah blah but they've been living here. She's got nowhere to go. Her dad won't let her go there because she has an open DCFAS case can't be around the child. Neither of them can go to pads. So Yeah, cuz I told him I said he's the one who needs to be leaving because it's his bond conditions. He was the one arrested with the domestic. So Um I guess that's what we're going to have to do. Yeah. Okay. Did you guys deal with this happen before? Oh, okay. All right, I'll talk to him. Okay, what's his Okay, perfect. What's his first name again? Is it Derek? Okay, sounds good. Thank you. All right, where's Derek? Okay, so I talked to my Sorry. I talked to my supervisor. So, this is an ongoing issue between you two cuz we've been here before, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, we've been Yeah, we've had issues before. Okay. You have bond conditions. You are in violation, okay? So, you're going to be the issue right now. All right? So, stand up and let's go outside and talk, okay? Go down there for me. Let's go upstairs. Uh well, I ain't got no shoes or anything. Okay. So, let's This is This is what we're going to do is you're going to have to go to jail tonight. Can you grab him some clothes for him? >> in violation. No, cuz she hasn't been here like the way but but she has her personal thing going on. >> matter. You're in violation of the bond conditions. I know she's not supposed to be here, but they told me that she's not supposed to be here. Come on, Derek. Turn around for me. Let me get my shoes. No, let me get my shoes, please. Cuz I don't have no shoes. We'll get your shoes. Hey, hey, hey, hey. They're saying I'm in violation. I'm in in trouble. No, no, no. Let them know that I'm not in violation. I'm right here. You want another charge? No, no, no, no. I know I'm resisting. I know I have to go. Come on. I know, no, no. Yes. Yeah, she did. That's who we talked to. Get this dog. Wait, I don't want them to bite me. Grab this dog. Grab the dog, Amber. I am. Okay. Okay, come on. Let's go down here. Come on. Hold on. I'll come back for all that. Yeah, like I've been living here. I've been in house arrest here. And I haven't been in trouble or anything. You should let them know that. Stop. Let them know that I'm honest. How do I say to you you can Well, because she's here. Well, let's get you in her room. Make sure I get that. I got to let them know. I got to let them know what's going on. Cuz I got Cuz I got to go by, you know, law. Is that his coat? You want me to keep it or do you need it? Do you want me to bring your coat? Yeah. Okay, so you're cool staying here and just being calm cuz there's nowhere else you can go, right? Let me let me go talk to them for tonight, okay? You want to get him down to the PD and I'll score him. I'll deal with the situation. The police department will talk to him later. At least he's talking to me at least for tonight. It's Thanksgiving night. Let's go to bed. Finally, the male was taken into custody on scene. There is no more information available about the male. Officers put a temporary plan in place. Taquisha stays in her room, leaves tomorrow. Not long after emergency services received a call from Taquisha requesting medical assistance reporting severe abdominal cramping. Central Dispatch 911, what is the address of your emergency? Um I need I need the um I need the ambulance. Okay, what address? Is this Taquisha? Yes. Like they're really sharp pains in like my lower stomach. Moments later the occupants noticed a strange smell then smoke. They forced open the door to Taquisha's room and found an active fire. Within minutes authorities were called back as the situation spiraled. Fire! 911, what's the address of your emergency? Uh I need a fire truck here at my house. My uh brother's bedroom's on fire. What's on fire? The bedroom That's a bedroom in the house in my >> in your house is on fire. Is everybody out? YES, BUT YOU GOT TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW. BEDROOM'S ON FIRE. IS THERE A FLAME, SMOKE, OR BOTH? Flame There's There's a flame in the bedroom. All right. Go. Everybody out Everybody out of the house? Yeah, we're all out of the house. Okay. Get everybody out. Are there any pets inside? ALL RIGHT. YO, FIRE GET OUT OF THE BEDROOM IN THE HOUSE. OKAY, everybody get out and I want you to stay out. I have the fire department on the way, but don't hang up, okay? YEAH. HEY, PUPPY. SOMEBODY WANT TO GRAB THIS DOG? I DON'T WANT IT TO BITE ME. RAYA, come on, baby. She's not even in there. Okay, what's No, we were here cuz there's a fire. No, it's my brother's bedroom. IT'S MY BROTHER'S BEDROOM. IT'S ON FIRE RIGHT NOW. >> OKAY. Wait outside. Somebody grab the dog now. >> No, no, I got it. I got it. I got it. Anybody else inside? Cats, anything? No, everybody's out of the house. Everybody's out of the building. What's that? No, was she in the house? No. Yeah. She was in the house. >> Is Lakisha in the house? Somebody now. >> there, but then when we went to open the door, she wasn't there. Okay. She was not in the room when >> wasn't there in the room? Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I don't know if she's Where's Lakisha? As far as I know, she's in the bedroom where the fire is. That's where it started. Auto 55, there may be one subject in the building. I'm getting mixed reports. Laquisha, you in there? Laquisha, you in there? Laquisha, YOU IN THERE? LAQUISHA, ARE YOU IN THERE? It started All right, let's get back here. Let's get back. It started in the room that she was at. Where's the room that she was at? Inside the door, up the steps. Inside the door, up the steps, through the kitchen. To the right. To the right. All right. Let's go back to the fence over there, okay? Hey. For Mike, we're not sure, there might be one in the bathroom in there. There's somebody staying in there, we're not sure. I'm getting mixed signals, so. I didn't hear anybody in there. You don't know if anyone's in here? We don't. They said somebody was staying in the bedroom. Somebody says they haven't seen her. It was this bedroom where they think the fire started. >> They just took a female to the hospital from here. Did they? Is she black? African-American? I think so. Yeah, probably her then. Yeah. Then there should be nobody else. We saw smoke, smoke. The next thing I know he he hit the door and he didn't I told everybody move. I I but I You don't got to yell. I'm right here. I I told everybody move and I I did that with my show I saw her tackle there. I know what it was in the lunch and we don't know what she caught caught that caught on fire. I think she caught her her house on fire on purpose. Who? Laquisha. It's my husband. It's my husband that did it. Baby mama. Yeah. Laquisha, whatever her name is. And she's not in there anymore or do we know? We don't know. Oh, we can't see her. I'm I I went in >> We don't know how it started though? No. No. Were you guys sleeping? No. No, we were WE'RE ALL UP. YEAH, YELLING IN MY EAR. YEAH, STOP YELLING IN MY EAR, BUD. JESUS, I'm right here. No, we're all up. She took my lighter and I'm all saying it got smoky, stinky. Like, "What the fuck?" That's when I punched a hole up in the door or something. I was like "This house is on fire." Like, "Great." It was right under you on the floor. Laquisha? Yes. She literally just left here. Okay, yeah. >> Laquisha's at the ER. She just got picked up from here. What the Oh. So, we literally we got to the ER and then we were dispatched for this. She said she just got thrown out. So, I don't know if she did something and then left or what. All right. But it wasn't 5 minutes. Okay. So, Laquisha's the one that's at the ER right now. >> must have been the one that went to the hospital then. So. So. One of them was try Two of them were trying to tell me she was still in the bedroom, but she's not. Yeah, they said that it was probably within 5 minutes after we left that this came out. So. That's weird. Yeah. They just had a big verbal I was here for, too. She did with them? Yeah. Okay. And then what happened? Here, let's go back here. So, David, them two have been staying here, the guy we booked and his future boyfriend and girlfriend. He got his stuff in the master. She was a resident here. She's been staying here for a couple weeks or whatever. They wanted her to go. They wanted her to go out tonight. She was a resident here. Couldn't make her go. She didn't have anywhere else to go, so they said that okay, well, you have to be out by 12:00 tomorrow or you can go ahead and stay in the bedroom. She says okay. She's going to stay in the bedroom. They're going to go out. They're all going to stay separated. So, she goes to the bedroom. I took off. So, I don't know what happened with the medic side of course after that, but it's a little weird. So, the fire started in that bedroom, too. So. Okay. Since you already talked to her, Yeah. you want to go out there and talk to her at the ER? Yeah. And you see if her what happened in the room. Yeah. Sounds good. All right. It is kind of odd that she leaves and they have you have this verbal argument. And then all of a sudden the house is on fire. You know. I'll go and talk to her. You guys want to go out now? Yeah, you're good. So. Last time they had a run-in with the law on the first time. Yeah, they're running it through dispatch. Okay. Lakesha had some verbal argument that our we got something there for. Yeah. But Derek got arrested. Okay. Lakesha could stay till noon tomorrow. They agreed. Or she had to leave. And then she called for a medic. Now she's out the hospital and then within 5 minutes those guys leaving. The fire started. We were going out to go talk to her. We just need to talk to everybody that's on scene. He's talking to these two. There's three in the back that we need to talk to and get their side of the story. So. Let's uh Well, we need to talk to the people and we're all going to be tied up here. So, let's go around. I was getting ready to get in my car and go around in the back and talk to all these other people. All right. So, what happened when you're in there? Where are you at when this starts? >> I was in my bed on my bed in the living room. Okay. And Oh, there's a bed in the living room? Yeah. What's your name again? Ashley Reese. Okay. I was sleeping. I have a clean record. All I know is I we >> You were on your bed in the living room, then what happened? All I know is >> Were you up? I was awake. Okay. Were you guys doing watching TV? Yeah, and then I was smelling something. >> Who was in there with you? Al, Al, everybody was in the living room. Al who? Who Who is everybody? Al for Miller, Amber Miller, Chris Biggins, and and Bob Brown. Bob Brown. Bob Brown? Rob Robert Brown. Oh, okay. Okay. We were all We were all in there. I was excited and I smelled the smoke coming from the Then she It was right there and then she was in the living room. I was smelling it out the bedroom door. I seen smoke out the bedroom door. That's when Al for went and just pushed the door open. And that's where the flames were on the floor. The floor what? >> That's where the flames were on fire on the floor. >> Okay. >> And where they had their bed was right here and their dresser was right here. That's where the dresser was at? >> That was Jay's and where Who is this guy? Jay was They just took uh Jay away. >> arrested, Jay or whatever? >> Yes. Okay. That was their room? Yes. That was my old my younger brother who was at the time Okay. So, Al for opened the door and then there's flames on the floor. Yes. >> was the one who called the I was the one who called 911. Okay. And that's when we told We told everybody to get out. Okay. Everybody was rushing to get out. Yeah. I was seeing things on my a jacket. What did they have in the room there? We don't know. it? >> don't What was in there? We didn't see anything. Probably alcohol bottles, I'm thinking. Okay. Wine bottles, I'm thinking. Did they smoke cigarettes or anything? Yes. Okay. Is that what it was on there? So, she was told She was told stay in the room because they're smoking all day weekend and [ __ ] And I was And she was She was fine with that. And then next thing you know, first smoke, smoke. But she She She wasn't here because she left with the medics, I heard. She's She's at the hospital right now. I think she must have been in there cuz she must have been inside then. No, she was She wasn't in there because she's at the hospital. Okay, then. No, no. She Before we got here, the medics had already taken her to the hospital. Oh, okay. Was she Was she complaining about anything to you guys? >> No. Last I knew, she went in the bedroom and we didn't see nothing of her after that. Well, look at Look at her name is Patricia Donald. Can I get out? Yeah, I mean I'm not going to keep open the door or anything. I'll let you in. >> I just got to get outside. >> Okay. Are you going to stay in? Yes. Okay. And my dog, you know, I don't want her running around. I haven't got her yet. No, just knowing what's in the room. Oh, sorry. Albert said there's a blue coat. When he shoulders the door, he looks, there's a blue coat in the center of the room. The blue coat was wrong with the t-shirt. Okay. It was on fire and it was on fire below it underneath the shirt. That's what I didn't He just told me that. So. Right now, we're trying to be as careful in there as possible. So, we're kind of keeping that scene preserved. So, we're trying to particularly pull stuff away to make sure the fire's out, but also keep stuff intact. So. What? No, today I'm going to get a consent from him real quick. Can I go in? Who all lives in It's a lot, right? Who's the primary resident? Okay. Were you guys both in there when this happened? No, he was. I live over there. What's your name, man? Chris. Chris Diggins? Yep. Okay, they said you were there. Can you tell me what happened? I was in my room. I smelled smoke. Where's your roommate now? Beside the house. Beside the air conditioner? Okay, the window unit? Okay. So, you're in your room, you smell smoke. What happened after that? He got He got scared. He smelled smoke. We came out. We checked the kitchen. Okay. Cuz we thought the oven was left on. Yeah. Cuz we didn't know. Okay. And we're like I'm over by my buddy's bedroom door and I felt it was hot and that's when I knocked the kitchen and the bedroom door. No, he He used his shoulder He went like that with his shoulder and he >> Okay. And he like walked it over and that's when he we seen a flame shooting up from the floor and I knew when to call 911. Okay. What did you guys saw the flame shooting up from the floor? Yes. Could you see what else was on fire? No, we couldn't really see ourselves. It was like a lot I know there was a bunch of drinks on the floor like juice box and [ __ ] like that. Okay. >> hard to see cuz it was like like I said, there was a lot of flames coming out of there. >> Okay. What was your name, ma'am? Amber Miller. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that [ __ ] was like touching the roof. What What happened What happened before? Uh she was letting two of us to stay here for the night and we didn't know that she left before we called that before we called you guys. We called We called the cops the first time. Because we didn't want her here. They talked us into letting her stay here till tomorrow till noon. Okay. Till she had no time to find somewhere to go. All The officer told her she had to stay in the bedroom. So after that, I don't know what happened. >> Okay. Did you see her when she left? No. Okay. No, she She my room all the time. >> How was her behavior while she was staying here? She was Not good. She was mean and disrespectful to everybody, anybody that touched her she didn't like it. Just kind of mean to everybody in the house, not really respectful of the fact that she was given a place to live. No. How long has she been here for? She was here for a month they said two months. I don't think it's been two months. No, okay. How long have you guys been here? We've been here Ted what was it? August or September? Okay. August. Was she here before you guys or after? Way after, right? Way after. Okay, way after. You said not two months, how long do you think? I think a couple weeks. A couple weeks. I probably got it. Okay. And any issues other than just her being disrespectful? Not destroying anything or causing damage or anything? No. No, this is the first time he's done anything really. Okay. Firefighters handled the fire as officers cleared the residence and confirmed everyone was safe. After the situation was stabilized, detectives decided to pay Takeisha a visit and get the full picture. Your room catches on fire, okay? I left after it. Yeah, so after you left you got out here and then the the your room was on fire. Takeisha mentioned a cigarette as a possible cause of what happened next. She recalled the suspect saying he had forgotten to put it out and described it as being left on near a bag containing clothes. According to her, the cigarette was later seen still lit. She stated that once she noticed it, she attempted to put it out suggesting it may have already begun causing a hazard by that point. That's what I was like. So he lights it and sets it down? Yeah, cuz when I was like well you got to come with us Derek, I guess he forgot to put it out and just set it down with something in the bag. I think he was just he was like yeah I got to put the cigarette out. I was in the shower and he was like well you need to hurry up, you got to go and then I was like okay. Then the officer, I don't know the officer name, but he was like well she can't leave. She don't She can't leave here. She can't bring her kid. She don't got no business being in the house." And Amber kept saying, "Well, I don't want this kid here." And I'm like, "You paying me? Don't try to argue with me. You need to be trying to worry about your lady, not me. I'm not I'm not here for you. I'm here for Derek." Actually, I don't know him very well. She begins by explaining that she doesn't really know most of the people in the house, only a few through Derek, someone she trusted after being with him for 2 years. But things started to shift when Derek began sharing her personal business with others in the house, leaving her feeling exposed and uncomfortable. Tensions only grew from there. She believes Amber dislikes her and even blames her for getting kicked out of a previous apartment, despite claims that it was actually caused by Chris. So, I'm just going to ask you for the uh as part of my job, did you Did you intentionally start any fire in that house before you left? No. Okay. Did you do anything that you think might have been careless that could have caused the fire? Okay. What do you think caused this fire? >> Sorry. Huh? How long has Derek been living Derek's house? How long before you moved in was he there? A couple months after I had my daughter. Okay. How old is your daughter? Well, she's been living with me for a minute, so she's I think she's 5 months. 5 months old? So, he's been there for 3 4 months, you've been there for 2 months? Yeah, which is October and this month. Okay. So, um Tikisha further explained that she had paid money to stay at the house, but Derek later told her she didn't actually live there. She questioned why she was asked to come over and spend that money if that was the case. She also claimed another resident owed her money, leaving her concerned that if she left, she wouldn't get paid back. But if she stayed, she risked getting into legal trouble due to existing restrictions. According to her, she felt stuck between losing her money and facing potential consequences. And like my dad was saying, like this is going to cost you your daughter. I was like, "But if I leave >> I can't >> speak to of that, but as far as I understand it, Derek got arrested for something involving you. Yeah. So as part of that court order, he's not allowed to be around you. At all. So it's the conditions of pre-trial release. It's new with the safety act. He gets conditions to not get held in jail. He just can't violate any of those conditions, and one of those conditions is likely he can't be around you. So if he's around you, he violates those conditions, which means it's the same as like when you get to arrest for domestic, you got to go to the jail. See a judge in the morning. They're either going to hold you or tell you, you know, make sure you follow these conditions and let you go again. They'll give you a court date. Okay. So it's I don't know how to >> kind of the same repercussions as an order of protection, just different. Oh, okay. Still a court order, just a different different kind. Okay. So regardless of the argument you're having and everything like that, Yeah. you know, if if if I lived with you and didn't get along with you, and I saw smoke in your house, I'm I'm going to fight through the argument and tell you that there's something on fire. Oh, well, she tried to do that. She kept telling She kept like pushing me and stuff, like, "I wasn't trying to hit her because she's pregnant." How come you didn't tell the fire department when they showed up to take you to the hospital? They They They're the people. I don't know. I was just like Was it kind of >> Was it kind of a, you know, there's something going on, but they're being they're being rude to me, so it's their problem now? Yeah. It was something like that. I was just like, "Well, they're going to figure it out." Like I tried to tell them, but I guess she wasn't trying to hear what I was saying, so I was just like, "Whatever." So we went on. Did you see any flames or anything like that? What you mean? Like fire. Did you see actual fire? Like I seen it. And I tried to like cuz how they house made, so I tried to like cuz they got windows and stuff, so I was trying to be sneaky with it, like, look up under the door, like, do I see Could I see any smoke, and then I'm like, "Is this fire?" And when I looked, I'm like, "Amber!" And I got I was trying to yell over her, but she got louder, and then they like, "You should just go. Just go." You know >> Where was Where did you see the fire at? On the floor. I think his shirt I think something fell and I seen the fire and I was telling Amber like Amber, there's fire and she was just yelling and I was like, Amber, it's [ __ ] fire. She was like, I don't care. Get the [ __ ] out. Nobody worried about you. I was like, oh my god. I looked up under there I looked up under there to see what was going to happen to fall, but when I seen the smoke I was just like, let me check. That's kind of a a serious thing if you can see it from under the door. Yeah, cuz I was kind of like lifting And then you call 911 and don't say anything about this fire. I was like, well, I don't know if the bedroom here did or I don't. I was trying to tell her that the fire was on the fire was in there and she I'm not trying to hear that. Get the [ __ ] out. I was just like So here's an important distinction I I got to we got to make, okay? It's one it's one thing if you you were upset with them, acted carelessly started this fire and then and then leave. The whole other thing if you're still in there, see there's a fire and then choose not to do something about it, okay? So that's important for me to understand, okay? One one's not not the most serious thing. Another is is kind of a a serious act. Like if you choose not to notify them of the fire, that that's a serious thing. If you you know are kind of pissed off at them, do something careless, start this fire and then leave, that that's a completely different thing, okay? But the knowledge of it it is something that is important for me to understand. So did you start this fire and then leave? I know that he started the fire with Okay. I told you that they got all the wires and stuff, but he took with him and then we left. Did he leave the cigarette in there? Did you put that cigarette somewhere that could start a fire? I probably set it somewhere. Where did you set it? I set it next to the tote. You set it next to the tote? I set it next to the bag. Next to the bag? Yeah. I don't look for the ashtray and I just set it down. So it was still lit when you set it down? Yeah. Okay. Would you set it on carpet? Did you set it on the bag? The bag. Okay, and the bag is >> put it too close. Is the bag plastic or is it cloth? Plastic. Plastic, and what it was in the bag? Clothes. Clothes? Yeah. Okay. So, you set the cigarette down, this this lit cigarette down on this plastic bag with clothes in it, leave the room, you go to the bathroom? Yeah. Okay, did you shut the door when you walked out? Yeah. Okay. Um you use the restroom, do what you got to do in there, walk out. Did you really look under the door or did you already know what was going on? No, I looked under the door cuz I didn't know what was going on. The smoke was on the door. Why didn't you just open the door? Oh, cuz I think because the way his door is made, it locks on its own. The door locks on its own? Yeah. There's um they have a key to this. I opened it and locked it. Okay. So, that that that's the part that I I want to make sure I got a good understanding of. So, he leaves this lit cigarette on the the green tote bin. Yeah. You go back in the room, you see this lit cigarette, you're looking for the ashtray, don't see it, so you set it down on this grocery bag with all Derek's clothes in there. When did it start smoking? After I came out of the bathroom. That's when I seen it and like How did you see the smoke from outside the bedroom with the door shut? >> got the door made, above his door, it's like you can see the smoke coming from under the door. Okay, so when you came out of the bathroom, the door shut, and you could see smoke coming from under the door? Yeah. Okay. And when I realized that's what I did, I was like, "Oh, shit." And then we went over and I was trying to tell him like, "Can you open the door? Open the door?" Because they have the key to his door. Okay. And I guess they didn't hear me and they were pissed off about what happened with that. So, I'm just like, "Okay." And I walked out. I tried to let them know like, "Can you open the door?" Cuz I think I was I I forgot that I left the the cigarette in there. And I was just like, And then when I forgot and when I realized I left it by his clothes, I was like, "He's going to be pissed cuz he got no clothes to wear." or nothing like that. So, I'm just like So, when you left the house, you knew the bedroom was on fire? Okay. Why didn't you tell the the fire department when they picked you up in the ambulance? I don't know. Did Was it kind of a Pardon my language, was it kind of a a feud Amber? She didn't be nice way to you. It's her problem now. Okay. So, that that's that's why I want to make sure I got a good understanding of this. What what I think happened is And this is just my I'm not putting any words in your mouth. This is what I think happened. Amber's been rude to you the entire time you've been there. You haven't done anything to her. You're just trying to have a place to live. She's eat your food, calling you disrespectful names, accusing you of stuff you got nothing to do with. I I think after the whole blow up, your your boyfriend goes to jail. I I think you see the cigarette and it's kind of a you know, if you're going to be to me, I'm going to do something to you. Set it somewhere where you know it's going to start a fire, see it actually start, shut the door, call an ambulance, and go on your way. Is that what happened? Okay. Okay. Sit tight for me, okay? So, according to her there's a tote bin right here with a uh a bag on it, like a plastic grocery bag full of clothes. Mhm. She pulled a shirt out of the bag, lit it on fire, set it back on top of the bag, which is on top of the tote bin right here. So, I mean Yeah, but there's something hard plastic on there. I'd say that's I'd say that's It must be. I don't know if I could grab a rake and get down. No, this can't be It's got to be underneath this [ __ ] If it even The tote bin I couldn't find any bits of plastic in there. So, the tote if it's melted if it's like the tote's on the bottom Yeah. Tote bin >> pull >> lid bag of clothes. Okay. That's cylindrical, so that that's a light fixture. Off of light. Let me go grab a rake. And then see if we can find that tote. Like the bottom of the tote. Like I said, I Cuz it should be off the bottom of the All occupants were able to safely exit the home and were later relocated for the night. Following further investigation and statements gathered during the incident, Takisha White was taken into custody and facing a charge of arson. The consequence of a decision made in anger fueled by stupidity.