North Side activist awakened early by a fire raging inside his truck

Investigators have yet to determine the cause, but the victim suspects revenge.

By JIM FOTI, Star Tribune

Last update: July 4, 2008 - 10:48 PM

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A Minneapolis community leader who has been trying to free his neighborhood from drug dealing and prostitution woke up early Friday to find his truck on fire.

Peter Teachout, chairman of the Hawthorne neighborhood on the city's North Side, suspects the fire was started in response to his frequent calls to 911.

"We're just trying to rebuild the neighborhood," he said.

Minneapolis police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said it's too early to say what the cause of the fire was.

"That won't be known until the arson investigators figure out the cause and manner and maybe if possible witnesses come forward," he said.

Teachout lives in a four-block area that's being targeted by the city for spot redevelopment. It's the same area where the sudden closure of a problem-plagued apartment building in late May left several families on the street.

"The amount of drug dealing that was allowed to go on there was inexcusable," Teachout said at the time. "They [tenants] were aiding and abetting it as far as I was concerned."

Teachout said his wife was awakened by the sound of a window on the truck being broken at 4 a.m. By the time firefighters arrived, the cab of the truck was heavily damaged and the doors had started to melt.

"I was in shock," he said.

He said the tools he had stored in the back of the truck were intact. Teachout described himself as a self-employed contractor whose company, Building a Difference, rehabs foreclosed homes that are then rented to families that can't afford to buy.

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491

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