By KAREN VELIE

Lompoc police officers arrested a man on Saturday afternoon after he allegedly attempted to burn his father alive, according to police.

After receiving a call that 40-year-old Joe García Jr. was beating his father at a home on the 200 block of North D Street, officers arrived at the home, but Joe García Jr. refused to open the door. Officers then forced the door open and discovered the father burning.

Officers placed the father on the ground and extinguished the fire.

Paramedics airlifted the father, who was suffering from third-degree burns, to Cottage hospital in Santa Barbara and later to a burn center.

Officers arrested Joe García Jr. and booked him in the Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment, criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon, mayhem, elder abuse and animal cruelty.