Saturday, July 25, 2009

Man Catches Fire After Being Tasered

As reported on July 21, 2009 on aol.com By KRISTEN GELINEAU, AP

SYDNEY (July 21) -- A man whose relatives say had been sniffing gasoline burst into flames after a police officer Tasered him as he ran at officials carrying a container of fuel, police said Tuesday.
The man, identified by his family as 36-year-old Ronald Mitchell, was in critical condition at a Perth hospital in Western Australia state following Monday's incident in Warburton, an Aboriginal community 950 miles (1,540 kilometers) northeast of Perth.
Western Australia police said they were responding to a complaint at a house when Mitchell ran outside carrying a cigarette lighter and a large plastic bottle containing what they believe was fuel. When he refused to stop running toward them, one officer Tasered him, police said in a statement.
The man was immediately engulfed in flames. The officer threw him to the ground and smothered the blaze with his hands, the statement said. Mitchell was charged with assault to prevent arrest and possession of a sniffing substance.

An 18-year-old woman threw rocks at the officer as he tried to help, and he was later treated for a cut on his head and burns to his hands, police said.
The officer who Tasered Mitchell was not suspended, Clifford said.


Editor Rozek’s Notes
: This really says it all. We need to be careful about what we eat and smell. Who knows when a policeman is going to walk up and taser us? How can you ever be sure it’s not the day that it will happen? For instance, if I was tasered at this very minute, I might burst into a giant pan of lasagna. It’s just dangerous. I have to wonder if he didn’t know that it was flammable judging from the fact that he was carrying a lighter too?? I always read the warning labels. I took the tag off of my mattress just the other day and put it on my refrigerator to remind me that I shouldn’t have removed it “under penalty of law.”…um…oops…sorry! I’m just saying that no where on a lighter does it say, “Caution! If carrying with previously sniffed gasoline and then tasered, contents may cause individual to burst into flames.” That’s how they getcha!

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