Thursday, December 13, 2001
Three UK football players face arson charge
Highlands grads charged in fire
By Rusty Hampton
The Louisville Courier-Journal
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Three freshmen on the University of Kentucky football team, including two Highlands High grads, were arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree arson in connection with a fire in their dormitory early Tuesday morning.
No one was injured in the fire, according to Ralph Derickson, a university public relations officer. He said residence hall directors extinguished it before the Lexington Fire Department arrived.
Jeremy Darveau, 20, Ben Scott and Brett Hamblen, both 19 and from Highlands, were being held in the Lexington Fayette County Detention Center Wednesday night. Each faces one count of first-degree arson. Scott also was charged with possession of alcohol. All three were suspended indefinitely from the football team.
First-degree arson is a Class A felony that carries a prison term of 20 to 50 years or life.
The fire, in a second-floor hallway of Kirwan One, was reported at 3:32 a.m. Tuesday, Derickson said. The three players charged live on the second floor of that dorm, which houses 166 students, most of them athletes.
Derickson said papers attached to a bulletin board were set on fire and that the fire then spread to two plastic trash cans, a wall and the ceiling. He said two residence hall directors extinguished it with buckets of water.
Derickson said that Kirwan One is not equipped with automatic sprinklers but that they're scheduled to be installed in May.
“It was a fire of some serious consequences,” Derickson said. “In the first place, this one was obviously an arson. There was a witness who saw the arson occur. It's a dangerous fire when it's in a full residence hall.”
A second fire was reported in a trash can in a third-floor bathroom at about the same time, but it went out on its own and caused no damage. Derickson said no charges were filed in connection with that fire, which is under investigation.
Derickson said the players turned themselves in to the UK police department about 36 hours after the fire.
Coach Guy Morriss did not return phone calls seeking comment but did released a two-sentence statement through UK's the school's media relations office that said:
“We are aware of (the players') situation. They have been suspended indefinitely from team activities pending the outcome of the investigation.”
A student was killed and another critically injured in a dormitory fire at Murray State University in September of 1998. The trial of a former student charged with murder and arson ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
All three players charged in the incident were red-shirted during the 2001 season. Darveau is an offensive lineman from Hilton Head, S.C. Hamblen and Scott, who are roommates, are defensive players and two of several players on the UK team from Ft. Thomas (Ky.) Highlands.
Derickson said that in addition to the criminal charges, the players also face disciplinary action from the school. Asked if the players could be expelled, he said: “Absolutely. That certainly could be one of the penalties.”
Bond was set at $5,000 each for Darveau and Hamblen, and $5,030 for Scott.
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Three UK football players face arson charge
