A Dayton man is accused of setting a woman’s car on fire by placing a flaming cloth under the car Sunday morning.

According to a Dayton Police report, a witness reported seeing a young man in a hooded sweatshirt pour gasoline from a can on what she described as a “piece of cloth or tee shirt,” at about 2:30 a.m. The man then attempted to throw the cloth on the car, but it fell off. He then threw it under the front of the car, catching it on fire.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames quickly and no one was injured.

The woman who owns the vehicle said she has been having an ongoing dispute with a man who stays with a girlfriend nearby.

Police went to the address provided looking for 27-year-old Timothy Jay Beasley.

His girlfriend said he wasn’t there, but later admitted that he came running into the apartment and hid in an upstairs closet, according to the report.

He was taken into custody, but denied any knowledge of the fire. According to the report, he told police that he hid from them out of “instinct.”

Police found an half empty gasoline can in a trash bin along the path that witnesses said the alleged arsonist fled.

Beasley was booked into the Montgomery County Jail pending formal charges of arson and obstructing official business.