The man accused of setting an IndyGo bus on fire last week was found with two lighters and smelled like “ignitable liquid” when he was arrested about a quarter mile from the scene, according to court documents.  

The bus was engulfed in flames at a stop on the north side of Indianapolis near the intersection of 38th Street and Meridian Streets on the morning of April 24.  

The 45-year-old man taken into custody in connection with the arson was located at a McDonald’s restaurant down 38^th Street.  

There were four people on the bus, including the driver. The bus driver said all passengers evacuated through the middle door of the vehicle. Indianapolis Fire Department officials said two passengers were transported to Eskenazi Hospital to treat slight injuries afterwards. 

Investigators used survelliance footage and information from the bus driver to make an arrest, according to a probable cause affidavit for the suspect’s arrest.  

IndyGo had cameras inside the bus and at the bus stop shelter. The man arrested at the McDonald’s had the same clothing on as the man who set the bus ablaze in the video, the affidavit reads.  

The video showed the man getting on the bus at the transit center in downtown Indianapolis around 6:45 a.m. He was carrying a clear, plastic milk jug with a brown liquid inside.  

About 20 minutes later, the video showed the man on the bus lighting a piece of paper on fire then blowing it out. He then moved to a seat closer to the bus’ exit and pretended to drink from the milk jug, according to the affidavit.

Previous coverage: IndyGo bus fire at 38th and Meridian ends in arson arrest

At about 7:10 a.m., as the bus was approaching the stop, the video showed the man pouring the liquid out of the jug then lighting paper on fire and throwing it toward the liquid on the floor of the bus, the affidavit reads.  

The liquid ignited into a large ball of fire, the video showed. The bus driver told investigators he had stopped the bus and was walking to the back to ask the man what was in the jug when the man started the fire, according to the affidavit.  

The passenger who started the fire had ridden the bus a few other times in the week prior, the bus driver stated. The driver identified the man detained at McDonald’s as the arsonist, the affidavit reads.  

The bus was a 2018 2018 BYD all-electric bus and the damage from the fire cost IndyGo $2.1 million, investigators learned.  

Demarcus McCloud was arrested in connection with the arson. He is charged with two counts of arson as well as arson resulting in bodily injury, court records show.  

McCloud has faced charges in several other criminal cases filed in Marion County in the past five years, including several drug-related cases. An attorney for McCloud was not yet listed in online court records before publication of this article.  

McCloud is currently in custody at Marion County’s Adult Detention Center, but prosecutors have filed a motion asking he be ordered to stay away from all IndyGo buses and stations if he were to be released before a trial.  

Prosecutors also filed a motion requesting a greater than standard bond for McCloud.  

“Defendant is a risk to the safety of the community, due to the nature of the allegations against him in this case,” prosecutors wrote in that motion.  

Online court records were not yet updated with scheduling information on the next hearing in the case before publication of this article.  

Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.