Suspected arsonist leads police on chase in East Bay

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KTVU) - A suspected arsonist is accused of setting multiple fires in Dublin and leading police on a freeway chase early Friday morning.

Police arrested 34-year-old Michaelis Brown

Police say Brown burned three cars and set fire to large pile of cardboard outside the AMP Printing Company in the 6400 block of Sierra Court. 

An employee reported seeing the flames outside of his workplace at 1:30 Friday morning. 

"The fire department told me that in 15 minutes this could have engulfed the entire building." said Jeff Main, who owns the business. "It could have been a real serious disaster. I am grateful to the fire department because I could have lost everything."

Dublin Police say Brown led them on a chase on Interstate 580 before stopping the pursuit for public safety reasons. A short time later, CHP spotted Brown's vehicle on I-580 and pursued him to Livermore. They also stopped the pursuit, but not before deputies say Brown rammed his vehicle into one of the CHP cruisers. 

Brown continued on and crashed his vehicle into some gas pumps at the 7-Eleven on Vasco and Las Positas Roads. Police say he took off running, but they later took him into custody. Brown is currently being held at Santa Rita jail facing charges for leading police on a chase, assault with a deadly weapon and arson.