A disturbing encounter caught on cell phone video is drawing attention after a man was left badly burned when an officer used a taser on him at a gas station in Arizona. According to the footage, the tasing ignited a fire, turning what began as a dispute over identification into a moment the man says he barely survived. The video, recorded from his own point of view, captures the tense standoff as it unfolded.
The officer involved works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the incident took place on July 16 on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation. The man at the center of the case, Clarence Coyle, described a terrifying experience, saying he thought he was going to die when the flames burst around him. He said his instinct took over and he moved to stop, drop and roll in an effort to put out the fire.
By Coyle's account, the confrontation began earlier over a question of trespassing. He said he and a friend had driven through an open gate as they approached an area known as Catfish Paradise at the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. That is when he first noticed the officer, who told him he was trespassing and needed to leave. The exchange grew tense as the officer raised the possibility of writing him a ticket.
Coyle said he then turned around and drove to a gas station located on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation. The cell phone video captures the officer repeatedly demanding his license to identify him, while Coyle asks what he is being arrested for. The officer can be heard telling him he is not cooperating and referring to a misdemeanor, as the standoff escalated toward the moment the taser was used.
The consequences for Coyle were serious. He says he suffered first and second degree burns on his hands along with severe nerve damage. He also said that despite the ordeal, he was never arrested, and that he spent five and a half hours at the hospital without a single officer following up to question him or write a report about what had happened. No one, he said, showed up afterward at all.
The federal government has acknowledged the case. The U.S. Department of the Interior says the interaction is under review, and the officer's uniform in the video reads P. Nielsen. In a brief statement, the Fish and Wildlife Service said a taser was deployed during the incident consistent with department policy, that all such deployments undergo review, and that it was unable to comment further on the matter.
The case has raised questions about when and where stun guns should be used. The department's own policy for electronic control devices says that, unless there is a clearly articulable and compelling reason, an officer should not use them when doing so could cause direct or secondary injuries, including when a subject is near flammable or explosive materials. The Fort Mojave Indian tribe told reporters it had no comment on the incident.