A 47-year-old man who authorities said was trying to commit suicide was instead arrested for arson early Thursday morning.
According to an Ector County Sheriff’s Office report, deputies were summoned to an area near West County Road and Oxford Drive about a 2021 Kia being on fire.
When deputies arrived, the driver of the car, Rolen Dean Phillips Jr., told them he had been burning charcoal inside the car in the hopes of committing suicide, but the fire got out of control and it engulfed the car, the report stated.
Phillips was arrested on suspicion of arson. He remains in the Ector County jail on a $25,000 surety bond.
