Cop sets man on fire, to prevent the man from setting himself on fire

[Jon-of-arc]

Police officer fired Taser 'to stop human fireball' - BBC News

Not enough facepalms in the world.

A police officer said he hoped a shot from a Taser stun gun would prevent a man soaked in petrol setting himself alight, an inquest has heard.

Independent fire investigator Steven Andrews said he made a "very strong finding" that Mr Pimlott was set on fire by the Taser.

The ignition point was on the belly where the Taser hit.

"The evidence does not support that he was set alight by the match," he said.

 

[cesare]

 

[Pickman's model]

if there was any justice yer man would be burned at the stake or, more traditionally, in a big wicker framework

 

[Spymaster]

PC Beer said: "I heard the Taser sound being activated and Mr Pimlott went up in flames."

No shit, Sherlock!

 

[purenarcotic]

What a fucking idiot

 

[skyscraper101]

Thick as shit cop.

 

[brogdale]

Regertably, though, he was the brightest spark.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I don't want to live on the same planet as people who are that fucking stupid. Frankly I shouldn't have to.

 

[DotCommunist]

sounds more like he shat in and decided to light the bloke up at distance rather than risk getting charged by a burning man.

 

[trabuquera]

Is there some sort of inverse-Darwin Award to be given to people whose stupidity costs OTHER people their lives?

 

[Cid]

Is there some sort of inverse-Darwin Award to be given to people whose stupidity costs OTHER people their lives?

Awards for gallantry?

 

[likesfish]

He'd have stood more chance of surviving if shot with a real gun

 

[sim667]

sounds more like he shat in and decided to light the bloke up at distance rather than risk getting charged by a burning man.

Sounds to me like he did it for the "lolz" to be honest.

 

[DotCommunist]

Sounds to me like he did it for the "lolz" to be honest.

either way I'm struggling to believe someone is that thick, surely there was a course that covered this eventuality. A training course for using the taze

 

[sim667]

either way I'm struggling to believe someone is that thick, surely there was a course that covered this eventuality. A training course for using the taze

Me too...... I think everyone who's had any type of education knows that a spark + petrol = fire. Even if you didn't learn it school, surely you know it from shit action films?

He should be brough up on at least manslaughter charges, no doubt there'll be no action taken.

e2a: Plymouth Taser officer cleared of misconduct - BBC News

Already been cleared of any wrongdoing.

 

[likesfish]

FFS.
Although A cop managed to taze a blind man with a stick as he mistook him for a nutter with a samurai sword .
Even given the level of tunnel vision and stress your going to be under when told to go look for a nutter with a samurai sword.
once challenged a man who turned out to be deaf but wasn't about to shoot him unlike the fuckwit I was with
Who belived the yellow card was a licence to kill at the first oppuntinty and was quickly reasigned to pan bashing .

 

[NoXion]

What the fuck was the "reasoning" behind that decision? Even if PC Pigshit is somehow not criminally responsible for his actions, does it not then follow that he is far too fucking mentally subnormal to keep his job? I would not be surprised at all if he ends up killing another member of the public. How many times could that happen before someone in authority decides enough is enough?

 

[Pickman's model]

What the fuck was the "reasoning" behind that decision? Even if PC Pigshit is somehow not criminally responsible for his actions, does it not then follow that he is far too fucking mentally subnormal to keep his job? I would not be surprised at all if he ends up killing another member of the public. How many times could that happen before someone in authority decides enough is enough?

how many cops have been sacked - let alone prosecuted - for killing people?

 

[NoXion]

how many cops have been sacked - let alone prosecuted - for killing people?

How many have killed more than once? Because otherwise it can be dismissed as "a one-off incident", "an anomaly", or "an error in judgement" or whatever fucking excuse they're using.

 

[Théoden]

The whole thing does look suspect. It may be, as someone comments above, that the officers thought the man was going to rush at them.

I wouldn't necessarily accept that the officer was being 'thick'. In the case of an untrained or uninformed individual, it wouldn't necessarily be obvious that a Taser might cause an ignition, but the officer was (presumably) trained and informed in these matters, by nature of his job. So there must have been a reason, or maybe he panicked - or maybe he's just a sociopath.

This from Wikipedia [my emphasis in bold]:

"Tasers, like other electric devices, have been found to ignite flammable materials. For this reason Tasers come with express instructions not to use them where flammable liquids or fumes may be present, such as filling stations and methamphetamine labs.

An evaluative study carried out by the British Home Office investigated the potential for Tasers to ignite CS gas. Seven trials were conducted, in which CS gas canisters containing methyl isobutyl ketone (a solvent in all CS sprays used by the United Kingdom police) were sprayed over mannequins wearing street clothing. The Tasers were then fired at the mannequins. In two of the seven trials, "the flames produced were severe and engulfed the top half of the mannequin, including the head". This poses a particular problem for law enforcement, as some police departments approve the use of CS before the use of a Taser.[3]

However, in the United States most pepper/CS spray is now water or oil based. This allows for the possibility of a Taser being used after an individual has been subjected to pepper spray without the concern for a fire.[4]"

Source: Taser safety issues - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia