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Jason Jones, a 29-year-old man from Catskill, died on December 15, 2021, after spending 47 days on life support following a horrific fire incident at the Catskill Police Station.
On Friday, January 7, 2022, surveillance videos of the incident were released by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Footage showed the man being engulfed in flames after being shot at by an officer with a taser gun.
Jason Jones reportedly walked into the police station and got involved in a scuffle with the officers. He soaked himself in sanitizer and burst into flames due to the chemical reaction caused by the taser. The viral clip also revealed three officers present at the scene running away from the lobby following the incident.
The Jason Jones fire incident, explained
On October 30, 2021, Jason Jones entered the front lobby of Catskill Police Station and had a verbal altercation with three police officers. During the confrontation, the man reportedly took off his shirt, threw his shoes and covered his head, neck and back in sanitizer.
As one of the officers attempted to subdue the man using a taser, he immediately caught fire due to chemical reaction from the sanitizer. Footage from the incident showed Jason’s upper body engulfed in flames within a few seconds of the shot.
Following the fatal incident, two officers ran out of the scene and shut the door of the lobby. A third officer moved towards the front door of the station and stood at the corner while Jason continued to struggle.
After the victim put out the flames, the officers walked back into the lobby and attempted to speak to him.
Paramedics arrived at the scene and transported the 29-year-old to the Westchester Medical Center Trauma & Burn Center for treatment. The flames reportedly entered the victim’s lungs and damaged the organ, disrupting Jason’s ability to breathe.
Officers involved in the incident dubbed Jason Jones as an “emotionally distressed” person and said that they came across the man after responding to a disturbance report at the Avalon Lounge in nearby Water and Church streets.
They reportedly attempted to take Jason into custody, leading to the altercation. Jones family attorney Kevin Luibrand called out the officials for harming an unarmed individual:
“The Taser is 50,000 volts of electricity. It’s well known, police are trained, not to use it in that circumstance. Jason predictably ignited as a result of that."
"Every single day police come into contact with people having some form of mental health episode, whether it’s on the streets or at home, and there’s ways to handle it. That’s not the way to handle it.”
Meanwhile, Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione called the incident “a terrible tragedy.”
Jason Jones passed away on December 15, 2021, after spending 47 days on a ventilator inside the ICU of a Syracuse hospital. An investigation into the tragic incident is currently underway.
