Cops: Man poured gas on woman, set fire to mobile home

A man is facing multiple charges after allegedly pouring gasoline on a woman and setting himself and multiple mobile homes and vehicles on fire last month in Middletown, police said.

At about 10:36 p.m. on Feb. 18, police responded to the area of Washington Street for reports of a domestic disturbance at a mobile home and spoke with a woman who told officers that 55-year-old Eugene E. Boudreau Jr. had poured gasoline on her and the mobile home in an attempt to light both her and the home on fire, according to the Middletown Police Department.

Fire officials said they were on standby at the scene for hours as law enforcement tried to negotiate with Boudreau, who stayed inside the mobile home.

“Negotiations to get Boudreau out of the home failed and he lit the trailer on fire,” police said in a statement on Monday.

Within a few minutes of setting the home ablaze, Boudreau came outside and officers continued to try to negotiate his surrender from a safe distance. He eventually turned himself over to officers, but only after his mobile home was fully engulfed in flames and his neighbor’s mobile home caught fire, police said.

Police said in a statement that Boudreau’s alleged actions “led to the destruction of his trailer, an adjacent trailer, and two motor vehicles nearby.”

Once Boudreau was safely detained, Middletown fire personnel went in and extinguished the fires without any further injuries, police said.

Boudreau, however, suffered burns on his body. He was taken to Middlesex Hospital, then airlifted to Bridgeport Hospital’s burn unit, police said.