Police officer accidentally sprayed burning man with pepper spray

Paroxysm

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http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/portland_police_officer_accide.html
A Portland police officer accidentally used pepper spray instead of a fire extinguisher on a man who lit himself on fire downtown near a fur store Wednesday.

Portland Police Bureau Chief Rosie Sizer said the officer was at a stoplight at Southwest 12th Avenue and Yamhill Street when she saw a man in flames.

When the officer went to get a fire extinguisher out of the trunk of her patrol car, she accidentally grabbed a large can of pepper spray used in riot control. Sizer said the pepper spray cans are red like a fire extinguisher.

The pepper spray was water-based, not oil-based, and nonflammable. Kim Kosmas of the Fire Bureau said the spray "didn't have any additional reaction with him already being on fire."

"I have never heard of a situation like this," Sizer said. "To be confronted with someone fully engulfed in flames is something that is so unexpected and so outside the norm that you respond very instinctively. And in many, many ways, her acts were heroic."

The man who set himself afire, 26-year-old Daniel Shaull of Dodge City, Kan., died at a hospital later Wednesday. His father, Warren, said his son had psychiatric problems and was living on the streets.

Shaull recently boarded a bus to Oregon, where he had never been, and arrived in Portland about five days ago, his father said. He said Shaull was suicidal when he left.

"I had a feeling something was going to tragically happen," Warren Shaull said.

Though Shaull set himself on fire near Nicholas Ungar Furs at 1137 S.W. Yamhill St. -- the site of numerous anti-fur protests -- Warren Shaull said his son's act was not political. He said Shaull came to Portland to seek help from a religious group that ended up taking him to the Portland Rescue Mission.

"He was mentally ill," Warren Shaull said. "He was tired of living."

Warren Shaull was interviewed before Sizer's news conference and could not be reached afterward for comment.

The officer, who has been on the job for fewer than 10 years, did not know she had used pepper spray until she got back to central precinct, Sizer said. Another officer found the empty can later at the scene.

"It was a mistake that she was unaware of, and a mistake that she's heartsick about," Sizer said.

Police spokeswoman Mary Wheat said the officer is on vacation that was planned before the incident. Police are not pursuing any disciplinary action, she said. She declined to identify the officer.

Sizer said the bureau is going to look at ways to better distinguish items carried in trunks.

When Shaull set himself on fire, a person driving by also responded immediately and grabbed a fire extinguisher from his truck. Sizer said Shaull was running away from those trying to help him. Several officers and residents were later involved, she said.

Being burnt alive probably hurts. Having a riot control sized can of pepper spray emptied on you while your on fire probably hurts 10X more.
 
I know it is not supposed to be funny, but this put's a big smile on my face because of how BAD it was.
 
I doubt that it hurt much more to be honest. Pepper spray hurts like hell but it doesn't hurt like you're being burnt alive... I imagine he didn't even notice.
 
Cop just zoned out and thought he was grilling, that's all. :shrug:
 
I doubt that it hurt much more to be honest. Pepper spray hurts like hell but it doesn't hurt like you're being burnt alive... I imagine he didn't even notice.

I'm sure it ****ed up his breathing, the vapor is brutal, especially if an entire can is unloaded.
 
I bet that guy was hot when he realized he'd been sprayed with pepper spray while he was on fire. It may be insensitive, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who think suicide is the only way out. It's lazy and cheap.
 
I bet that guy was hot when he realized he'd been sprayed with pepper spray while he was on fire. It may be insensitive, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who think suicide is the only way out. It's lazy and cheap.

Some people aren't as strong as the rest of us, they don't know how to handle the pressures of life.
 
I bet that guy was hot when he realized he'd been sprayed with pepper spray while he was on fire.

One would think the searing pain from the burns is bad enough that this guy didn't notice.

The thing is I'm getting one of those Looney tunes-like scenarios where someone throws gas on a fire thinking it's water. It's crazy to think the Cop emptied one of those huge crowd control pepper sprays on the guy thinking it's a fire extinguisher.
 
It's a honest mistake, albeit a funny one, and this brings into question whether the police have properly trained their officers on simple things like distinguishing between fire extinguishers and pepper spray. However, this story is also kind of funny, in a tragic way.
 
I'm sure it ****ed up his breathing, the vapor is brutal, especially if an entire can is unloaded.
He wanted to die anyway, right? :awesome: There are far less painful ways of killing yourself man.
 
I'm sure it ****ed up his breathing, the vapor is brutal, especially if an entire can is unloaded.

How well could he breathe anyway being covered in flames?

This X 1000000000000

Hahaha... I know that you know.

So what's worse you think, pepper spray or the tazer.

I would rather get tazed every day for a month than get pepper sprayed one more time.
 
Now you're just being ridiculous. It was an accident.
 
He's still sucking in oxygen regardless. The Cop ****ed up big time. I hope she remembers that for the rest of her life.

I agree that it's obvious that the officer screwed up, but I think that it's certainly not as horrible as some people are making it out to be.

In all likely hood the man was feeling such extreme pain that he didn't notice the pepper spray. After all he apparently didn't have any immediate adverse reaction to it because no one even knew what happened until afterward.

Anyway, I doubt she'll forget.
 
Life has literally become a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
 
As Majic Walrus pointed out, he probably didn't even notice. The article says it's water-based and didn't have any reaction. It's not like he threw gasoline or kerosene on him.
 
Hahaha... I know that you know.

So what's worse you think, pepper spray or the tazer.

I would rather get tazed every day for a month than get pepper sprayed one more time.

Absolutely agree. When the taser is over, it is OVER. The pepper spray fd me up for 3 hrs!
 
I laughed at the thread's title because of how stupid it sounds. Sounds like something Homer would do.
 
I'm sure it ****ed up his breathing, the vapor is brutal, especially if an entire can is unloaded.

He's still sucking in oxygen regardless. The Cop ****ed up big time. I hope she remembers that for the rest of her life.

Um no, most people that burn themselves alive die from smoke inhalation not from the flames.:whatever:
 
How well could he breathe anyway being covered in flames?



Hahaha... I know that you know.

So what's worse you think, pepper spray or the tazer.

I would rather get tazed every day for a month than get pepper sprayed one more time.

Absolutely agree. When the taser is over, it is OVER. The pepper spray fd me up for 3 hrs!
Heh, I've been hit by the f***ing riot control gas...

And that was working a job before winding up with SAPOL... :hehe:
 
Is pepper spray the same as CS gas? I've been gassed before, it was... unpleasant to say the least.
 
My sophomore year in high school some idiot sprayed some in the hallway, we ALL got ****ed up. He got suspended, but we were still struggling the rest of the day.
 
It's not funny that someone died. However I was still wiping tears away reading the story. I feel bad for laughing that hard.
 

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