2 Men Going To Prison For Helping To Set Police Car On Fire During Riots

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Two Pittsburgh area men are going to jail for a police car fire at a protest in Downtown Pittsburgh in May 2020.

Da'Jon Lengyel, 24, of McKees Rocks, will serve a 27-month sentence, and Christopher West, 26, of Pittsburgh, was handed down a 48-month sentence in federal court Friday morning.

Lengyel pleaded guilty last June to federal charges of "conspiring to set fire to property of an organization that receives federal funding" and "unlawful interference with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder."

This happened during the protests against the murder of George Floyd back on May 30 last year.

West pleaded guilty to the same charges last May.

Investigators say Lengyel and West climbed onto the cruiser and jumped up and down on its roof. They are also accused of putting cardboard and crumpled paper into the vehicle's passenger compartment in order to accelerate the flames once the vehicle had been set on fire.

The police vehicle was completely destroyed as a result of the fire.