Gwinnett Daily Post

Jason McKiness

DULUTH -- A Middle Georgia man had to be tasered and dragged away from a van he set on fire outside a Duluth hotel early Sunday morning, police said.

Jason Blair McKiness, 36, of Williamson, was arrested Sunday and charged with first-degree arson. According to police reports, McKiness was with a band that had played a show at Duluth's Sweetwater Bar and Grill earlier that night when he began acting strangely.

Band members reportedly told Gwinnett County police that McKiness was with them outside the Hyatt Place hotel on Venture Parkway, drinking, when the conversation "turned to Jesus" at about 4 a.m.

"(A witness) stated that Mr. McKiness stated that he was the devil and started acting crazy," a responding police officer wrote in his report. When McKiness reportedly pulled out a pair of butterfly-style knives, the band members went inside.

That's when police believe the man broke the rear window glass on a van parked in the lot and set it on fire.

When officers arrived, McKiness was reportedly sitting on the back bumper of the burning van, and gave several profanity-laced refusals to move.

"Mr. McKiness stayed at the back of the van even though the fire starting coming out of the back window," the report said.

One officer ultimately deployed his taser while another dragged McKiness away from the van. He was arrested without further incident and released the same day on $5,700 bond.