A suicidal man is at the hospital in an unknown condition after police officers used a stun gun on him and the gasoline he had doused on him caught fire.
The man reportedly had what was thought to be a lighter in his hand, and was planning on burning himself alive in his Virginia home. The officer acknowledged that using the Taser was a risk, but said that the man was “very frantic and erratic and became a danger to everyone in the room.”
“We realise that a Taser can have some other implications, but we also know he had something in his hand,” a spokeswoman for the Arlington Police Department told local reporters. “It’s unclear at this moment whether he became engulfed in flames from the gasoline and ignitable object he had in his hand or from the Taser.”
The man’s attempted suicide-by-fire also resulted in three officers being taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. The officers did not experience life-threatening injuries, the spokeswoman said.
The man had already doused himself with gasoline when police arrived on the scene after a call from two women who said that he was mentally ill.
After evacuating the two women from the scene, the officers attempted to calm the man to no avail. Instead, he poured more gasoline onto his body. Officers weren’t sure if he was holding a lighter or not.
The Taser was used “to subdue him,” the spokeswoman said. Instead, the man became engulfed in flames. Officers reacted quickly to save his life, wrapping a blanket around him to put the flames out while taking him out of the house.
