Photo by NASHUA POLICE Brandon Middaugh, age 27, of 40 Chestnut Street, Nashua

NASHUA – The Chestnut Street resident charged in February with setting fire to a Southern New Hampshire Rescue Mission bus, then allegedly slugging a mission employee, has asked a judge for personal recognizance bail so he can enter a transitional housing program.

Attorney Michael Davidow, who is representing Brandon Middaugh, 27, last known address of 40 Chestnut St., filed the motion in hopes a Superior Court judge will OK personal recognizance bail in time to allow Middaugh to meet Wednesday’s deadline for entry into the men’s Transitional Living Program, a facility in Manchester run by the housing and treatment agency Families in Transition-New Horizons.

According to Middaugh’s case summary on file at Hillsborough County Superior Court-South, a bail hearing initially set for Tuesday was canceled, and a dispositional conference was rescheduled to May 9.

Earlier, prosecutors motioned for, and were granted, a continuance in the case.

Middaugh, who has been incarcerated since his arrest Feb. 19, is charged with one count of felony arson, along with two counts of resisting arrest or detention and one count of simple assault, all misdemeanors.

They accuse him of torching the bus, pulling away from police officers and trying to escape their grasp as they tried to take him into custody, and allegedly punching the mission employee in the face.

According to police reports, the series of events that led to Middaugh’s arrest began when the mission employee denied Middaugh entry into the mission because of his alleged intoxication.

Middaugh allegedly punched the employee, then began gathering cardboard from a dumpster – which, police said, he arranged inside the bus then allegedly set on fire.

Witnesses told police they saw a man, later identified as Middaugh, “standing by the bus with his hands in his pockets, simply watching the bus burn,” the reports state.

Police said officers, along with Nashua firefighters, arrived to find the mission’s bus fully engulfed in flames, which had begun to spread to the rear of a multi-unit apartment building at 59-61 Walnut St.

Crews evacuated residents of the apartment building as a precaution as firefighters fought the blaze, police said. While flames did some damage to the building’s exterior siding, residents were able to return once the flames were extinguished.

Police detectives investigating the incident “observed numerous pieces of partially charred cardboard” among the items that were removed from the bus, which was declared a total loss.

A state fire investigator called to the scene ruled the fire “was purposely caused,” police said.

In a brief post-arrest interview with detectives, Middaugh “denied any involvement in the fire, but did make admissions to being at the scene and witnessing the fire,” the reports state.

Middaugh also “made admissions to being intoxicated at the time,” but after a few minutes he “ended the interview” and requested a lawyer, police said.