A newly released video by The New York state attorney general shows a man bursting into flames after being tased by police officers inside an upstate police station in October, an encounter that led to the man’s death.
The graphic surveillance video shows three officers from the Catskill Police Department running away from the man, who was desperately trying to quench the fire engulfing his upper body and head.
The 29-year-old man, Jason Jones, passed away on the 15th of December at a hospital in Syracuse after spending a month and two weeks in a medically-induced coma. Jones’ death is currently under investigation by The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The video shows Jones pacing around the police station’s lobby for approximately ten minutes after speaking with several officers on Oct. 30.
He takes off his short-sleeved sweatshirt after becoming visibly agitated and ripped his t-shirt off his large frame before taking off his shoes and socks, the video, which does not have sound, shows.
For about ten minutes later, Jones grabs a large pump bottle of flammable hand sanitizer from under a table and starts dousing his bare torso and hair with it.
Within seconds, three officers approach Jones, with one of them drawing his Taser and firing it at him. Jones is out of the camera’s frame when he is being tased.
Jones’ head then catches fire as he comes back into the camera’s frame and starts rolling on the floor, his chest, back, and head fully engulfed in fire.
While Jones is still on the floor, the three officers are seen running away, two into another room and a third around the lobby’s corner. Jones is left alone to extinguish the fire by patting his head with his hands and rolling on the floor for about ten seconds, the video shows.
As Jones remains on the floor, badly burnt, the officer who fired the stun gun comes back in the lobby and is seen trying to get Jones’ hands behind his back as he lies on the floor. However, Jones was never handcuffed.
About 15 minutes later, a medic brought in a gurney and wheeled Jones away to get treatment, according to the video.
Unfortunately, Jones died after spending 47 days on a ventilator due to his lungs being burned so badly he couldn’t absorb oxygen, The Albany Times-Union reported.
According to the newspaper, Jones, a former top high school athlete in Catskill village, had been at a nearby bar where police responded to a noise report. He reportedly walked to into the police station and confronted officers there.
The article said officers were initially treating Jones as an emotionally disturbed person before advancing on him and tasing him in an apparent attempt to arrest him.
An attorney for Jones’ family, Kevin Luibrand, told the paper that:
“Jason was unarmed, in the police station, and not threatening anyone when the police hit him with 50,000 volts of electrical current and he ignited.” Instead of helping Jason, the police ran out the room, shut the door and let him burn.”
Officers are trained to never use a Taser on an individual exposed to flammable liquids, said a law enforcement expert who trains police on the use of force. He said that instead of running away, the three officers should have immediately tried to help Jones after he went up in flames.
Warning: This video includes graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised. Watch video on YouTube.
James, whose office was tasked under a 2015 executive order with investigating fatal encounters between cops and unarmed civilians, made the following statement after making the video public.
“The release of this footage is not an expression of any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of any party in a criminal matter or any opinion as to how or whether any individual may be charged with a crime.”
