Bend firefighters work at the scene of an RV fire at Scandia Village RV Park on NE Ross Road in Bend on Thursday, April 4, 2024. 

BEND — A suspected DUII turned into an arson investigation early Thursday morning, April 4, in Bend after two men got into a fight after hours of drinking, police said. 

Bend police officers found Edward Rene Bales, 54, blocking the northbound lanes of Third Street near Franklin Avenue in his gray Dodge Ram 1500 shortly after 3 a.m., Sheila Miller, Bend Police Department spokesperson, said in a news release. 

Police said Bales and 26-year-old Austin Jordan Stapleton spent hours drinking together, first in Redmond, then Bend. While driving to Bales’ home, the two started fighting. Stapleton punched Bales in the face, took his house keys and ran from the car, Miller said. 

Around 4:47 a.m., when Bales was in police custody for a suspected DUII, law enforcement responded to a fire that had erupted at the Scandia Village RV Park on the 700 block of Ross Road. 

Bales’ fifth wheel was on fire. 

Bend Fire & Rescue was able to extinguish the fire before it reached any other RVs or trailers.

“The RV, storage trailer and contents are considered a complete loss, with a value of $75,000,” a news release from Bend Fire & Rescue said. 

Roughly half an hour later, around 5:12 a.m., the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office responded to a DUII in La Pine on U.S. Highway 97. It was Stapleton, and Bales’ dog, Mojo, was in his green GMC Yukon when deputies stopped him, police said.

Bales was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, fourth-degree assault, first-degree arson, first-degree robbery, first-degree theft and first-degree burglary, police said. Stapleton remained in the Deschutes County Jail Thursday, but formal charges for both people had yet to be filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court.