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Jason Jones allegedly burst into flames when a police officer in Catskill, New York, jolted him with a stun gun on Oct. 30, according to authorities.
Moments earlier, the 29-year-old had sprayed himself over his face and body with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It happened in a police station about a half-hour drive south of Albany, in a village with a population of just over 4,000.
The incident caused catastrophic injuries, and he succumbed to them Wednesday, according to the state attorney general’s office, dying at the hospital where he’d been a patient for more than six weeks.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James announces an investigation Thursday, a day after Jason Jones died in a hospital burn unit and weeks after he was allegedly set on fire by an officer's stun gun. (Reuters)
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Catskill police do not wear bodycams. But the incident is believed to have been recorded by surveillance cameras inside the station. Video has not been made publicly available.
It happened after Jones walked out of a nearby bar and into the police station, where he allegedly picked a fight with officers around 1:30 a.m. Oct. 30, according to the Albany Times Union.
He "appeared to be intoxicated," village police told another local newspaper, called The Daily Mail.
Catskill police Chief David Darling did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
"At one point Mr. Jones allegedly sprayed hand sanitizer on his body and head, and an officer used a Taser to subdue him, setting him on fire," New York state Attorney General Letitia James’ office said in a statement Thursday that used a brand name for stun guns.
A police stun gun (iStock)
The Office of Special Investigations, a division of the state AG’s office, will look into the incident. State rules automatically trigger a special investigation after any officer-involved death.
Jones had been in the burn unit at State University of New York Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse. An autopsy was expected to determine his official cause of death and how much of a role the stun gun incident played in it.
The village police use-of-force policy requires officers to factor in "environmental conditions or exigent circumstances" before using anything "more than a firm grip."
Police are also generally warned not to use their stun gun on suspects who are wet or standing in water.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an investigation Thursday into a man's death weeks after he burst into flames in a Catskill police station when an officer allegedly struck him with a stun gun. (iStock/Reuters/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)
But Jones’ incident is not the first time a police stun gun lit a man doused in flammable liquid on fire.
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Court records state that in July 2017, Gabriel Eduardo Olivas poured gasoline over himself and was threatening burn his house down – with family members inside. He was high on meth and holding a lighter.
An officer struck him with a stun gun – lighting both Olivas and the house on fire. He died from his injuries several days later, but the people inside made it out alive.
Greene County District Attorney Joe Stanzione, whose office is conducting its own investigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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