A man with a history of careless smoking while when drinking has been charged with endangering his mother after a cigarette caused a fire in their eastern Pennsylvania home.
Lower Southampton Township police say they deal with 54-year-old Dean Smith nearly every day for drinking issues and found him in the living room, still smoking a cigarette, when crews responded Sunday to a fire.
Police say Smith, 54, appeared oblivious to the smoky conditions around him and didn't move his mother -- who is in her 80s, deaf and uses a walker -- from the home despite being encouraged to do so by a 911 operator.
Instead, police say Smith laughed and said, “No, why would I do that? The fire is upstairs.”
Online court records don't list an attorney for Smith, who has been hospitalized while charged with 10 counts of reckless endangerment.