KNOX — A Unity man who allegedly tried to place a lit cigarette into the open gas tank of a generator during a reported domestic assault was arrested Saturday.

Ulysses Queener, 50, went to a home on Morse Road in Knox at about 6 p.m. Saturday to “confront his ex-girlfriend over a generator that was at the residence,” according to a report from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman had taken the generator and was using it at the home, but Queener thought the generator should be with him, Lt. Jason Trundy said Monday.

“There was a verbal, then a physical confrontation,” Trundy said.

During the argument, Queener allegedly pushed the woman on top of the generator, then tried to put a lit cigarette into the gas tank. Although he later told deputies that he had meant to throw the cigarette on the ground, other people in the home who witnessed the altercation said that it looked as if Queener wanted to put it in the open gas tank. His motives weren’t explicitly stated, Trundy said, but seemed suspicious to the responding officers.

“Why would you throw a lit cigarette into an open gas container unless you wanted to blow it up?” he asked.

The ex-girlfriend’s sister, who was at the residence, called police to report the alleged assault, Trundy said. When deputies Kyle Wasiela and Wiley McVety got there, both Queener and the woman were still in the room with the generator. Queener was holding on to it and the ex-girlfriend also was staying close to the generator “so the other person couldn’t take it,” Trundy said.

After the deputies spoke with everyone who was at the home, including Queener and the woman, who did not appear to have suffered injuries during the alleged attack, they decided to place Queener under arrest and charge him with domestic violence assault.

He was taken to Waldo County Jail in Belfast to be booked, and bail was set at $150 cash. Queener was able to post bail, and he was released later on Saturday night.

The generator remained at the Morse Road home with the woman, Trundy said.