Cops Use Web Video To Charge Firefighter In Super Bowl Chaos

Steelers Fans Burned Couch In Oakland To Celebrate

POSTED: 5:00 pm EDT May 12, 2009
UPDATED: 8:07 am EDT May 13, 2009

PITTSBURGH -- Police used WTAE Channel 4's video of post-Super Bowl mayhem to identify a volunteer firefighter and college student who's suspected of being a firebug during an impromptu street celebration in Oakland.

Police Use Web Video To Charge Firefighter In Super Bowl Chaos

According to the criminal complaint, Pittsburgh police identified 22-year-old Andrew Ablog as the shirtless, tattooed man seen pouring lighter fluid on a burning couch during WTAE's live coverage after the Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1.

Slideshow: Couch Ignited In Oakland
Video: Watch WTAE's Video

WTAE Channel 4's Ari Hait reported that a tipster told police that Ablog could be seen in a screengrab of WTAE's video that was posted on ThePittsburghChannel.com.

Ablog -- a volunteer firefighter in Monaca and a student at the University of Pittsburgh -- was arrested Monday and agreed to talk to police without an attorney, according to the criminal complaint.

"I showed him three photographs of a person pouring lighter fluid onto a couch that was on fire and asked him if that was him or not. He told me that it was him. He told me that couch came from a Dumpster and that someone handed him the can of lighter fluid. He said that he did not set the couch on fire but he did pour lighter fluid on the couch to get the couch burning more intense than what it was," police said in the complaint.

Because the crowd on Oakland Avenue was so large, police have charged Ablog with risking a catastrophe as well as arson.

Following the Steelers' victory, police said a number of people broke windows, overturned cars and set fires near the University of Pittsburgh. A bus shelter was also torn down on Fifth Avenue.
Full List Of Damages, Offenses: Read The Pittsburgh Police Bureau's Report

Dozens of people charged in connection with that night's chaos accepted plea deals during a hearing in March. The penalties ranged from a $300 fine to 50 hours of community service.