Kansas City man charged after arson at Westport restaurant
A Kansas City man has been charged with contributing to the burning of a Westport restaurant in an alleged act of arson he told police he cannot remember.
George J. Daniels, 52, was charged with second-degree accessory arson, a felony, for his purported role in the fire. He first appeared in Jackson County criminal court Wednesday. He has also been charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in a separate case in municipal court.
The fire at Haha’s Kebab’s and Shawarma, a family-owned restaurant at West 39th Street and Wyandotte Street, began around 2:18 a.m. on July 8, security footage shared by the Kansas City police department shows.
A July 8 surveillance video shows an unidentified man throwing a rock through the restaurant’s dining room window while Daniels looks on, according to court documents.
Daniels can be seen on video throwing a red gasoline container through the shattered window, according to court documents, after which both men take turns throwing flaming objects in through the window.
In footage shared by the police department, the man later identified as Daniels can be seen throwing what appears to be a rag stuffed into a bottle through the window into the restaurant, sparking a fire.
The fire engulfed the restaurant in less than two minutes, as seen on the surveillance video. As the flames spread, the video shows the two men walking away.
No arrests were made for more than a month after the fire, prompting police to release video clips and photos of the suspects. A Kansas City police detective interviewed Daniels on Aug. 26, during which Daniels identified himself in screen captures from security footage, court documents state.
Daniels told police that he could not remember any of the events of the night clearly because he had been “smoking wet cigarettes” on July 8. “Wet cigarettes” refers to tobacco or marijuana cigarettes that have been dipped in other drugs, usually the dissociative drug phencyclidine (PCP).
Haha’s Kebab’s and Shawarma was closed for more than a month after the fire, which caused near total damage to the inside of the restaurant.
The second man who appears in the security footage has not yet been charged or publicly identified.
Daniels is being held on a $100,000 bond. He will next appear in court at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 for a bond review hearing.
