Someone set a downtown ATM on fire … and then urinated on it

Is he a man with money to burn or a number-one bandit? Maybe both.

At about 1 a.m. Wednesday, a security guard at the Bank of America Financial Center building at 601 W. Riverside Ave. caught a man setting something on fire and placing it on the ATM’s braille pad, said Sgt. Terry Preuninger, spokesman for the Spokane Police Department.

While the guard was able to put out the fire, some time later the man returned. This time to urinate on the ATM.

“There is surveillance footage of that,” Preuninger said. “You can clearly see it.”

The ATM, on the back side of the building along Sprague Avenue between Wall and Howard streets, was cleaned and is still operational, a bank manager said Wednesday. It’s unknown if the braille pad or other parts will need to be replaced.

Preuninger said a written victim statement provided by the bank indicated it cost $700 to clean the machine.

A person of interest has not been identified.