A man who spent much of his adult life in prison for murder and arson is back in custody after prosecutors said he set another fire—this time while smoking crack cocaine on a CTA bus in Humboldt Park.
Earl D. Ellington, 55, is charged with aggravated arson and criminal damage to government property after he allegedly lit a fire on a #82 Kimball-Homan bus near North Avenue and Homan Avenue last month. Nine passengers were on board, but no one was injured, authorities said.
In a detention petition, prosecutors said Ellington was smoking crack in the rear of the bus when he started a fire and ran away.
Responding officers found him nearby, matching the suspect’s description and bearing a fresh burn mark on the back of his shirt, according to a Chicago police report. Officers also recovered a small amount of suspected crack cocaine and a glass pipe with white residue, the report said.
CTA cameras recorded the incident, and a bus employee later identified Ellington as the person who started the fire and ran away.
Ellington was convicted of murder and arson in a single case filed in 1993. More than six years later, in November 1999, he received a 24-year sentence for murder and 15 years for aggravated arson, according to court records.
Cook County Judge Deidre Dyer granted prosecutors’ request to detain him pending trial.
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